Community Partners
 “I grew up in a company that was unionized. We didn’t have to worry about our work conditions or about taking a sick or bereavement day to attend to our family responsibilities. We had a union to protect us and that is a very important thing. I am passionate about everything I do and I am equally passionate in supporting you.” DOT SCOTT President Charleston Chapter NAACP |
The School Bus Workers United campaign is about workers joining together to make a difference in their working lives. It’s about achieving fair pay and decent health care, but just as importantly, it’s about achieving higher quality and safety standards in the school bus industry.
School bus workers are uniting for the safety of the students, their own safety and the safety of other drivers on the road.
Because entire communities are impacted by standards in this industry, this campaign often receives a great deal of community support. Various local—and even national—social, political and religious groups have provided their support and have used their voice to call for improvements in the school bus industry.
Teamsters and the Netroots
Bloggers from around the world are now calling attention to the challenges school bus workers face. They are exposing anti-union activities of First Student and volunteering to organize citizen action in their communities.
The efforts started shortly after the Teamsters called on bloggers attending the 2007 YearlyKos Convention to join forces with labor to build a stronger progressive movement.
Charleston, South Carolina
During the Charleston campaign, community, religious and political leaders demonstrated their strong support for First Student school bus workers who were working to form a union with the Teamsters.
Concerned about the existing working conditions of the school bus workers, as well as anti-union activity by First Studentduring the campaign, the NAACP and Charleston County School District representatives insisted on a meeting with First Student President Carey Paster. In this meeting they:
- Brought back a worker fired under some questionable circumstances—with back pay.
- Got Paster to agree that no more mass mailings about the union would be sent to employees’ homes or delivered to them at work.
- Won the right for workers to speak and raise safety concerns in safety meetings.
- Paster agreed to work on the workers’ long list of 23 safety concerns.
The NAACP leadership was tireless in utilizing its prominent name and reputation to stand up for the school bus workers throughout the organizing campaign.
Dot Scott, President of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP, pledged her support for school bus workers facing a lack of respect and poor working conditions. She attended rallies and spoke publicly about the need for union representation for the Charleston workers.
Reverend Joseph Darby Jr., Pastor of Morris Brown AME Church, was the first Vice President of the Charleston branch of the NAACP. Reverend Darby also provided support and opened his church as a meeting place for the First Student workers.