NLRB ruling needed before bus drivers' unionizing vote counted

[Omaha Steve]

http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=7&a=308767

9/21/2007 10:18:43 AM

By Bob Freund

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

The votes in a unionizing election by employees of the Rochester City Lines transit system this week won't be counted at least until officials for the National Labor Relations Board sort out who should be voting. A superseding election also is possible, an NLRB official said.

About 50 transit drivers and dispatchers were eligible to cast ballots Tuesday at the election about joining Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005.

The regional director for the NLRB issued an order Aug. 20 declaring those transit workers as the appropriate group for collective bargaining. They operate the fixed routes comprising the city's bus system.

However, the bus company employs about 50 more drivers for commuter buses, which carry workers living in area towns to and from Rochester each day. Those workers also should have a chance to vote on union representation, Rochester City Lines general manager Dan Holter said. Holter has appealed last month's order by NLRB Regional Director Robert Chester to agency officials in Washington, D.C.

FULL story at link.