![]() ![]() It’s not easy, and it takes a whole lot of skill to drive a bus and manage a bunch of kids at the same time. And since they didn’t, it’s right for them to go on strike.”Īnother worker told the WSWS, “We carry precious cargo we’re responsible for the safety of the children from the moment they leave their parents until they get to the schools. Clemens Community High School, said, “The bus drivers should have got a raise. They were supposed to pass on part of the fee increase,” the union official said. ![]() ![]() “But First Student hasn’t taken a single step in our direction. When the contract went into force, he said the union was told there would be meetings to discuss salary increases for the bus drivers. “First Student got a 15 percent increase in the rate that it charged the school. “When we decided the contract, there were no wage provisions,” Bluhm said. The local Teamsters president said wages were the primary reason for the strike. They signed a contract in April, which vaguely promised that some of the added revenues would be reflected in wage increases. The bus drivers, who were previously not unionized, joined the Teamsters in October of last year. Shortly after First Student took over Laidlaw, the school board closed a contract offering the company 15 percent more per hour. Clemens has been privatized for over ten years, according to Bluhm. The company gets more money, but we’re told to do more for less.”īus service in Mt. The entry level at First Student is $10.90, with the highest wage, based on seniority, reaching $14.35.ĭianne, another worker, said, “It’s like the little people don’t count any more. Workers at First Student make $4-5 per hour less than most school bus drivers, according to Bluhm. Other bus drivers start out at $15 per hour, but we have people who have been working here for ten or fifteen years who don’t even make that much.” We’re the lowest-paid bus drivers in the district. We love these kids, but we work under conditions that aren’t conducive to their safety. The strike shut down transportation for schools in the districtĮllen, another bus driver, said, “the company keeps talking about safety, but they give us old, raggedy buses that always break down, and put all the responsibility on us if something goes wrong. First Student’s web site boasts that “outsourcing your student school bus transportation services can save you ten percent or more.” As education budgets have tightened, schools have increasingly sought to privatize transportation and use contractors to drive down costs and lower the living conditions of their employees. The company is Britain’s largest bus operator, and runs more than 20 percent of all bus service in the country.Ĭontractors like First Student pay lower wages than those paid directly by school boards. Clemens as part of the deal.įirstGroup is a multinational corporation worth some £1.87 billion, ($3.1 billion) and employs over 100,000 people. The company bought up Laidlaw, a school bus transportation contractor, in 2007, acquiring the workforce in Mt. The company is a subsidiary of the British Transportation conglomerate FirstGroup, and is the largest private operator of school buses in the US. Clemensįirst Student runs 60,000 buses and employs 68,000 people in the United States. Teamsters Local 614, the bargaining agent for the drivers, declined to comment on the settlement to end the strike. The workers made arrangements to provide transportation for all special needs children, according to bus drivers who picketed throughout the day in front of the company bus depot.įirst Student threatened to bring in strikebreakers from Illinois, Ohio and Indiana to resume normal transportation schedules on Wednesday. The strike shut down transportation Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday. The strikers were demanding a $1 an hour wage increase. They are employed by First Student, the largest private bus operator in the country, and are paid significantly less than other school bus drivers in the area. Thirty-one bus drivers provide transportation for 1,000 students, or half the enrollment in the Mt. The walkout ended Tuesday evening with the Teamsters announcing an undisclosed settlement amid company threats to bring in out-of-state replacements to break the strike. ![]() Clemens, Michigan, 25 miles northeast of Detroit, carried out a one-and-a-half day strike Monday and Tuesday to secure promised wage increases from the private transportation company which services the district. ![]()
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