I've been fortunate to have met so many workers while on the School Bus Campaigns  organizing.  One of the things I tell workers is that no matter where I go, the only thing that changes are the faces of the workers.  Otherwise, issues at the locations remain the same most of the time.  I would like to reflect on some of the issues I have witnessed and maybe there are workers who won't agree with me.  If this is the case, you can comment.  I think it would be interesting to find out if the workers who comment are located in unionized or non-union locations.

Let's start with FAVORITISM.  Nearly every yard I have been to has had this issue.  A trip opens up and instead of running the seniority list to find the driver who should be up next, the work is handed to the driver who has the a friend in the dispatch office!  Where is the justice here?  This doesn't happen when you have a contract in place where the language is spelled out.  Then there is the incident on a bus where some of the workers are punished and some are not.  Is this treating the workers equally or by use of favoritism?

Next would be having a VOICE in the workplace:  You go to the contract manager and report the parking lot condition is unsafe but no action is taken to improve the lot.  It is dark on the parking lot and you return from a trip, you announce this to the manager but again, no action is taken.  Your buses are parked so tightly that you must slide into the rear door and ask the manager if something can be done to correct this dangerous problem.  The mirrors are getting dinged, buses are clipping the vehicles next to them and weeks later, you are still sleethering into the rear of the bus.  Is your voice being heard?

There is something that costs companies nothing and it is called RESPECT.  Workers have said they are talked down to, yelled at in front of other workers or on the radios, or treated like a child by staff position people.  This is totally uncalled for and the relationship between both the drivers/monitors/mechanics to staff people should be one where respect is shown.  The staff people are no more important than the workers who deal directly with the buses.  They are equally important because without one, you don't need the other!  Myself, there were times our manager and the dispatcher were both gone and it was the drivers who ran the bus operation!  Try the drivers all being gone~!  Yes, exactly what I was thinking, there would be NO bus operation!  But it takes everyone to make busing run smoothly and effectively.  The idea that staff is superior to the bus workers is in the minds of those who feel their "title" gives them this right!  Respect to one another should come naturally and as I said, it costs nothing!

In the 4 years of traveling the country, I have met many good people who are working and doing the same job I left so I could organize.  As a campaign begins to draw nearer to the election, I start to realize I may never cross the path of most of these workers again.  The time spent getting to know them, sharing our stories, laughing with them, and yes crying with them, makes it difficult for me to leave.  I am reminded of these workers when I reach the next destination because the issues all resurface again, it is just the faces that change.  Best wishes for continued solidarity to all of those I have met if only for a brief encounter in our lives.