Late last month the School Bus and Transit Workers at First Student's Greensboro, North Carolina yard voted 87-8 to join Teamsters Local 391.

Like the 6,000-plus coworkers before them, the Greensboro employees joined the union seeking fair pay, affordable health insurance and improved safety and respect in the workplace.

“I’m feeling good now,” said James Moore, a seven-year driver with First Student in Greensboro. “We need more affordable medical insurance and we should be paid for what we do. We have a huge responsibility transporting children. Everybody’s happy and united for this, as you can see from the vote count.”

The 117 First Student drivers and monitors perform contract work with the Guilford County Schools. According to Local 391 organizer Rachel Baisden, the new members learned the benefits of Teamster membership from the Guilford County drivers, who are members of Local 391. The First Student employees then contacted Local 391 to organize as Teamsters.

You can read the full press release on this victory by clicking here .

It’s no wonder First Student drivers, monitors and mechanics in Omaha are Teamsters now. They just won their election by a huge margin: 324 to 59, which is boils down to 69% voting TEAMSTERS YES! . We pretty much knew it’d be a major victory, if the rally prior to the vote was any indication.

These are some unified Teamsters! The rally in Omaha was really impressive. More than 150 Teamster members and community leaders came out to rally outside the Omaha East yard. There were banners, signs and a huge Teamsters Joint Council 56 truck to make our presence know. Some big names were there. State Senator Tom White spoke and he was quite impressive. He said he’s a card-carrying Teamster and he spoke about the rights of the folks in Omaha to organize. State Senator Gwen Howard couldn’t be there, but her daughter read her letter of support, and Brenda Council, a labor lawyer and community leader, also sent in her support. Reverend Adrian Young, a prominent and respected community member, also encouraged the workers out in Nebraska. And they did it!

Congratulations to the new Teamsters in Omaha! Welcome to the Teamsters where more than 6.600 of your coworkers have taken the same step in the last two years!  

While I was totally aware of the fact that we had a United Kingdom (UK) sister union working on the same school bus and transit workers campaign as us in the States, I never realized how huge the Transport & General Workers Union (known as the T&G in the UK) was. Evidently, our sister union is merging with another union to form the largest trade union in the UK, with over two million members .

The drivers and union leaders visiting from the UK last week at the Jacksonville Workers’ Congress made it clear: Their fight is our fight, our fight is their fight.

In an effort to learn more about the T&G’s School Bus and Transit Workers in the UK , I poked around at their website and read more of the FirstGroup campaign history, here is what I found out.

FirstGroup, which is headquartered in the UK , is the parent company of First Student and First Transit here in the United States. Our coworkers in the UK are all proud members of the Transport and General Workers Union. The T&G is currently in the process of merging with the Amicus union to form a new labor union to be called Unite , the Union – which will be one of the largest trade unions in all of Europe. This process will be completed by November 2008.

When FirstGroup acquired Bruce Transportation and Ryder Public Transportation in 1999, it became the second largest school bus and transit operator in the United States. Since then, the T&G members at FirstGroup in the United Kingdom have worked in close partnership with the Teamsters to make sure that we are offered the same opportunity to join a union. In addition, our coworkers continue to assist in seeing that we get the same benefits of having a union in place as they do in the UK .

To learn more about our coworkers in England and their relationship with the Teamsters, please click here. The link will take you to the page called “Documents You Need.” Once there, scroll until you see the PDF titled, “Did You Know?”

Anyone who was in Jacksonville heard Ian McDonald, Lew May and Taj Salam – our UK counterparts – speak. We heard that they are generally at least 90% unionized at their depots (yards), and that we can … & will do the same here.

If you are new to this website or our campaign, let me first start by welcoming you. As you poke around you will see that more than 200 school bus and transit workers were in Jacksonville, Florida last week to support the organizing campaign at that area's First Student bus yards. Many of us are already Teamsters, and soon we will call the 900-plus workers in the North Florida First Student yards Teamsters, too!

The Union held its School Bus Workers Congress in Florida to discuss how to make First Student a union company -- and to communicate the importance of driving up the standards in our industy. We are with the collective mindset that we need positive changes in wages, health care, safety and RESPECT.

 We rallied outside the Arlington yard last Thursday morning in an energized, spirited and peaceful march. Just in case our voices were not heard (though that is doubtful), we held signs that read, "Respect," "Paid Vacations," and "Fairness." The music was pumping and the enthusiastic show of solidarity proved to workers that we can gain a voice and much more by being part of the Teamsters Union.

Teamster General President Jim Hoffa was there. He talked to us, listened to our concerns and provided sincere encouragement after our "march on the boss" -- where we told First Student management that w're making some needed changes and making them NOW by staying united and forming our union.

If you are coming around this site for the first time -- or you are a regular visitor, keep this in mind: The Teamsters are the real deal and we're here to stay!  

Thanks Corey for sending in these awesome photos. It was such an incredible day on so many levels, and your pictures truly brings that front and center.

Our friend Jean Barker sent an email with a link to an online forum where folks are going back and forth about the Jacksonville, Florida School Bus and Transit Workers.

Now is the time for you to speak up and get heard. Consider what you say and how you say it -- but by all means, get heard.

Here is the link. <-- click the word link of copy and paste the following into your web browsers.
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/wtlv/T4G91ASFMP2VP43KJ/p3#lastPost

Thanks to our brother Russ Harris from Carpentersville, Illinois for sending in this great collection of rally photos. I think we might have a photojournalist among us, friends!

Thanks to Dede Smith for sending over these amazing pictures from the rally we had yesterday. If anyone has other photos to share on the site, please send them over to me at Rnegri@teamster.org.

(Thanks to Ted Perez for this great photo)

What an honor to be sitting in the back of the room, blogging to the site while our Organizing Coordinator announces that in  2008 we have already tasted the sweet flavor of 10 victories.

About an hour or so ago, those of us here in Jacksonville, Florida returned from a spirited rally at the area First Student yard. Just like the 5,700 First Student and Laidlaw bus and transit workers before them, Jacksonville First Student workers also want the Teamsters!

"These drivers and transit workers work hard every day to ensure the safety and security of our children," Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President, said at the rally. "They deserve our respect. They deserve safe working conditions and fair wages and benefits."

The rally proved a lot of interesting points. The most critical being that Jacksonville needs and wants Teamster representation, and the Teamsters are here for us. "First Student wants to keep treating its employees like second-class citizens, but the Teamsters won't stand for it," Hoffa said.

Gaining respect on the job is important to many First Student drivers who have chosen Teamsters. "The reason I want to be a Teamster is so that I can have a voice at work," said Corlene Isaacs, a seven-year employee of First Student. "Management doesn't respect us now, but they will with a union."

And Corlene ... you could not have said that better ...

For a policy that was written up by First Student/First Group last year, it is funny apparently there are still some parts of the US where the managers and their staff did not receive word on the Neutrality Policy!  Or if they did, they are sure not following it.

Take for instance in Omaha, NE where they have 3 locations with 3 seperate managers.  One manager seemed to have been shocked the workers wanted a union and after questioning one employee, that manager is allowing it to be the decision of her employees whether to have union representation or not.

Manager # 2 location;   He began by calling in an employee and asking her how many people went to the union meeting.  Then he rode the wave a while but now has begun harassing a worker constantly, along with his staff.  It is clearly a form of harassment the way the worker is being treated.  Now the manager has decided the employee should have some time shaved from her route, which had never been done prior to the worker taking a stand on being in favor of the Teamsters. 

Manager # 3 location;  Now here is a piece of work!  Not only is the terminal manager targeting the pro-union activists but her training manager is taking an activity role also.  These two staff people have found a way to slide in under the neutrality radar.  It is called "Cutting Workers Pay".  We have witnessed two of our OC members, who prior to their union activity use to do extra jobs between routes.  Not the case any more.  This work has been given to others, one is a newly hired relative!  (this isn't a surprise!)  In one case, the worker had been doing the extra job for 2 yrs. 

When the Headquarters for First Student sent out the Neutrality Policy, why didn't these managers bother to read it?  Doesn't it make you wonder what other policies, procedures, or codes of conduct some of these managers are not taking the time to read and post?  Is it like some of the other rules they are suppose to adhere to but fail to do so? 

If the managers and staff members continue to slide in under the neutrality radar, Mor Lockhead may have wasted his time putting one together.  For the sake of all First Student employees, Mor Lockhead will review the monitors findings and put an end to the managers who do not want to follow his policies, procedures, or rules.