by Gloria Hubacker and Doug Collins
Last March, Laidlaw school-bus drivers, roughly two-thirds of them women, stayed away from work for nearly four weeks, affecting some 13,000 Seattle students. The principle point of disagreement was over the drivers' desire for a pension plan. Most Washington state school bus drivers do have pensions because they are state employees. Most school districts own and operate their buses instead of contracting the work out, as the Seattle district does.
Blake Vaughn, Laidlaw's Seattle division manager, found it understandable that pensions were such an important issue for drivers since "probably 70 percent have over 10 to 15 years experience . . . and they see the end of the tunnel and have nothing building." Still, Vaughn explained that his inability to grant pensions came as a direct order from corporate headquarters in Ontario.
This order was repeated by Ron English, a chief Laidlaw negotiator and head of the company's human resources on the west coast. English told Teamster local 763 that he couldn't agree with pensions. "Because of our nature as a contractor . . . in order to maintain our competitiveness, we have to keep our costs down. That's why school districts come to us, because they can't afford to maintain the buses, fuel, and wages by themselves," explains English.
Laidlaw's chief competitor in Seattle, Ryder, does provide some pension contributions for drivers, but may have more restrictive medical benefits. Ryder has in recent years won an increasing share of Seattle school bus routes.
It wasn't until Seattle drivers were out on the picket lines that they learned 17 different Laidlaw units in the U.S. also had pensions. One of the closest is in San Francisco, and apparently those drivers obtained pensions because the bid specifications by the school district required it.
After the first week of the strike, parents, students, some school district staff, and community members formed the Coalition for Safe School Buses to support the striking drivers. The coalition believes that students are best served by drivers with pension benefits because this helps retain and attract a permanent, professional workforce.
Former Seattle School Superintendent William Kendrick has stated that the district "cannot become a third party in the dispute." But coalition members saw this as a dodge of the district's responsibility for the safe, uninterrupted transport of students and began to demand greater accountability and responsiveness. Coalition members got support resolutions passed by parent-teacher associations, attended school board meetings, held a rally, and attempted to meet with each school board member.
In the third week of the strike, Laidlaw began hiring replacements, which would currently be illegal in Laidlaw's Canada home. Many parents became alarmed about inexperienced, hastily trained drivers, and the striking drivers became fearful that Laidlaw was intent on breaking the union.
The strike folded the following week with returning workers having obtained a modest wage increase, a one-time company donation of a whopping $100 to those drivers eligible for IRA plans, and more difficult eligibility requirements for medical and dental. Understandably, bitterness and animosity currently pervade the workplace, and a number of drivers have quit.
While some drivers have acknowledged defeat in this fight with Laidlaw, many of them have now joined the coalition, which continues to push for pensions through the school district. The coalition successfully worked with school board member Michael Preston to introduce a resolution which would change the specifications for the bids which Laidlaw (or any interested company) would have to meet to be awarded future busing contracts. The proposed specifications would include a worker pension plan. Such specifications "might even put a smile on our faces," notes Laidlaw negotiator Ron English. "Our only concern with pensions initially was that it would put us in a non-competitive posture. If everybody is on the same playing field, we have no problem."
This resolution is expected to come to a vote this fall, and it is still not clear whether there are enough votes to pass it. With four of the seven school board positions up in this fall's elections, new faces could appear that would be more supportive of this pension resolution and more capable of keeping bus company profit margins separate from the best considerations for children.
(Gloria Hubacker is a Seattle parent and active with the Coalition for Safe School Buses. To contact the coalition, call (206) 364-6059 or write PO Box 25074 Seattle 98125.)
Related Stories:
Go North, Young Worker!
Slaves of the State
Seattle Activists Kick Off Labor Party Effort
Teachers Work to Revive Labor Education
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Contents on this page were published in the October/November, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1995 WFP Collective, Inc.