For the last couple months Union Review (http://www.unionreview.com) watched the Teamsters organize one School Bus yard after another, a couple of which we reported on after finding the press releases distributed by the union.
While writers and stagehands are getting a tremendous amount of attention these days, I thought it would be a good idea to also raise awareness to this ongoing campaign with the school bus drivers.
Below is a letter from a School Bus worker. This note also prompted me to work on getting the word out as far as possible.
Richard,
How about more stories on School Bus Workers fight to form unions, we sure can use the support from all walks of life. Considering that we as school bus drivers may be driving your or your readers’ children to and from school every day.
John
Berwyn, Illinois
With that, the first thing we need to keep up with is a website dedicated to this campaign: http://www.schoolbusworkersunited.org. All of the information you can possibly need to know is there, along with workers stories.
My first stop at this site was the button called "Problem: The Employers." It is here where we learn that these workers’ employers include First Student, Laidlaw and Durham School Services – they are the top three providers of school bus transportation in the United States.
These are not small companies. They are hugely successful corporations that rake in profits that are astronomical, and usually at the expense of hardworking low wage workers.
Aside from imbalanced wages, the workers are also faced with inadequate and unaffordable health insurance, not to mention a tremendous lack of respect.
What the public needs to realize is that these drivers are experienced and trained in an area not everyone can do. Many of us don't even possesses the mindset to do this kind of work. Yes, children are our future, but 20 yelling kids at a red light is just not for me. Either way, the only way the public can open up to what is taking place with these workers is to look at a recent situation that happened on May 1st of this year. That was when a fill-in driver dumped about 20 students off in an unfamiliar neighborhood because he said that the kids were loud and got on his nerves ... huh? The company’s reaction was that the incident was under investigation. Can you imagine being a parent hearing that the substitute untrained driver got fed up with your kid and so dropped him off in the middle of nowhere?
While the public needs to contemplate this, it also needs to realize that these workers on the buses are treated with zero respect from the companies they work for, as mentioned. They have unaffordable healthcare and, in some yards a driver on for four or more years can be earning the same as someone with no experience coming in the door for the first time. There is no sense of seniority, dignity or respect – and parents who are concerned about their kids’ safety should also be concerned about the dismal treatment the kid’s driver is receiving.
According to Lori Polesel, a driver for First Student in Wallkill, New York, when First Student took over her bus company she had cuts in her wages and bonuses, medical insurance was lost and sick days were taken away. "Things went from not so bad with a small family-owned company, to worse. Each year with First Student we have town hall meetings and each year I question why they can’t do better. The stock answer is, "We’ll get back to you." I’m still waiting four years later."’
Instead of waiting for the company to get back to Lori, please visit the Community Action link at http://www.schoolbusworkersunited.org. It is a forum to help volunteers; labor organizers and workers connect and coordinate actions.
There has never been a more deserving group of working people in need of solid union representation than the drivers who carry our kids to school everyday!
Little Side Note in Italics: A lot of my information in building this blog post was taken straight from the site mentioned, as well as press releases distributed by the Teamsters. The worker's quote was told to SBU, not me.