First Student Bus Drivers To Strike In Hinds County (Teamsters Local 891)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.wapt.com/news/21352928/detail.html

Bus Drivers To Strike Thursday At 4 A.M.

POSTED: 4:24 pm CDT October 20, 2009
UPDATED: 5:55 pm CDT October 21, 2009

JACKSON, Miss. -- First Student bus drivers in Hinds County will go on strike at 4 a.m. Thursday, said W.C. Smith, president of Teamsters Local 891.

The bus drivers, who are represented by Teamsters Local 891, have been in negotiations with First Student over salaries and benefits. The drivers said they make, on average, $12,000 a year. The teamsters said drivers in central Mississippi are paid much less than drivers who work for First Student in neighboring states.



“A strike is not what we want, but we are being forced to do this by First Student and Hinds County School Board,” Smith said.

Smith added that the Teamsters will not strike in Madison and Yazoo counties at this time. Smith said the counties have indicated they are going to be able to assist in reaching an agreement between First Student and the union.

First Student spokeswoman Maureen Richmond said the company had planned to meet with the union on Friday.

"It is inconceivable to us that the union would choose to call a strike before meeting with us to hear our new proposal," Richmond said. "We are extremely disappointed the union has chosen to strike in Hinds County, effective Thursday morning. Not only does it show disregard for our scheduled negotiation meeting, it also puts unnecessary pressure on parents."

FULL story at link.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. This is why we need EFCA

so others can join 12K \year that is a poverty wage

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. $12000 for a basic school bus driver is about $13-$14 per hour.

Bus drivers that I know are basically all part-time and split shifts (morning and afternoon) working about 20hrs/wk. Which kinda sucks because the middle portion of the day is kind of wasted time they don't get paid but still can't do too much with it since they're back on the clock in the afternoon. Also, because it's "part-time" that usually means holidays & summers are not paid (which makes sense as school is out)... so generally work is only about 43 weeks/yr. . Although field trips and extra curricular trips are usually overtime.

It's a catch 22... the hourly rate ain't bad but you more or less devote whole days to punching a 20hr weekly time-card.
At the least, having to maintain a CDL and deal with brats all day, the drivers should be making the hourly median rate that other truck drivers make especially considering their "cargo" is children. A quick google search tells the median rates for truck drivers is about $13-$20