School bus drivers want just pay as strike looms

USW Local 8751, the Boston School Bus Drivers, are in an intense cycle of negotiations for a fair contract with multimillion dollar British-owned international First Student Corp. and with the School Department and the mayor.

Drivers’ rally in June. WW photo: Ed Childs

The union contract expired on June 30, and if a new contract satisfactory to the drivers is not in place by Aug. 21, union drivers will not participate in the fall bidding process on that date, ensuring that transportation will not be available on the first day of school in the fall. This process assigns routes to drivers for the school year.

The drivers have been negotiating since early spring, and staged a strong picket and disruption on the occasion of the company’s bid for summer job runs at the end of June. This action showed the company and school officials the union’s ability and readiness to shut down school transportation if a settlement is not reached.

The workers also demonstrated the union’s strength and preparedness to strike by conducting the first- and second-shift strike readiness committee trainings at the same time and place as negotiations with the company and the city, forcing the mayor’s officials to walk a gauntlet of militant, angry, strike-ready drivers, who were far from shy about making their feelings known.

The drivers are fighting for basic economic equity and justice in their contract. Public school workers in the city have 85 percent of their health care insurance paid for by management. The school bus drivers only receive 80 percent. The drivers are seeking benefit improvements including long-term disability insurance.

The company had proposed a long list of concessions and take-aways, which the union has been battling. The union’s position is “no concessions, no cuts.” The militant stand of the union has succeeded in winning the settlement of a large body of back grievances going back more than five years.

The union is calling on its supporters to step up pressure on the company, the School Department and the city in the final days before the strike deadline to support economic justice for the drivers and safety for the children. The Labor Solidarity Committee of the International Action Center here is organizing call-ups to community organizations and progressive individuals to support the union.

On its Web site, USW Local 8751 has served notice to the public that “the British monopoly First Student, Inc.—which the City of Boston awarded a no-bid $343 million management contract with a $6 million bonus—is holding the children, parents and bus drivers of the Boston Public Schools hostage to its own corporate greed.

“With its labor agreement with 800 bus drivers expired on June 30, 2008, First Student has engaged in bad faith bargaining with the drivers, who have provided quality transportation for desegregated education to the students and parents of Boston since 1974. Instead of offering just and equitable wage and benefit increases to the workers who provide the service, super-profitable First Student has demanded concessions and cutbacks from a workforce already reeling from the economic crisis and cost of living in the Boston area.

“Take Action Now to support the hard working school bus drivers of Boston’s communities. The City’s vendor agreement gives it the power to enforce ‘harmonious labor relations’. The City must force First Student to the table in good faith to avert the pending crisis. Call them today to say you want ‘safety for the children, and justice for the drivers, Now!’

“Mayor Tom Menino 617-635-4500; School Superintendent Carol Johnson 617-635-9050; School Transportation Director Rich Jacobs 617-635-9520; First Student Vice President Bob Timilty 617-532-2500.”