Teamsters Drive Up Standards Bus Campaign Organizes Nearly 35,000 Workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1658894

2/22/2012

The Teamsters Drive Up Standards campaign organizing private school bus and transit workers has racked up 300 organizing wins since 2006. Teamsters’ organizer Kim Keller.



[Kim Keller]: “We’ve organized about 35,000 workers, drivers during that time period. Just last week we won an election in Hayward and Livermore California. To the bus drivers out there, change is in the air. A little bit of effort can make a real difference. Please call the Teamsters, reach out to us. We’ll do our best to work with you and help you.”



Keller says pay and benefits are terrible for many private school bus drivers, even though they need professional certification to drive.



[Keller 2]: “They are finding it harder and harder to survive financially, to support their families and support themselves. We do home visits in campaigns. I have literally knocked on a storage unit where a worker lived. The way many of these drivers have to live because of the low pay and terrible benefits – it’s shameful.”

[man4allcats]

1. Thanks for posting.

When you sit behind that wheel with a bus load of people on board, it's a big responsibility and yet the pay and typically the management stink. Frequently there are no benefits, and drivers are often expected to drive way too many hours without regular breaks thus compromising safety. I am man4allcats, but for this post you can call me BeenThereDoneThat.

[lib2DaBone]

2. PLEASE.. Teamsters.. come to Florida...

I know.. a "Right to work" State. No fat chance of Teamsters coming to Florida.

If there is any state that is more in need of a transportation Union.. it HAS to be Florida.

Bus companies in Florida force drivers to drive 20 hours a day. Yes.. it is against the law.. but who cares? Say anything and you are fired.

You would think that the dipshits in Indiana would read up before they voted for a "Right to work" rule .... but they didn't. Indiana Bus Drivers.. get ready for Indentured servitude.. because that is all you got... 20 hours a day with no minimum wage.

Fox news convinced Indiana voters that good wages and good benefits were something they dare not desire.. so let's not hear a peep, when they work you to death.. because they will...