Seattle Press on Line - Board Considers Cheap Bus Contract

Teacher Ted

Board Considers Cheap Bus Contract

By Ted Lockery

Mar 28, 2002 -- The Seattle School Board did the right thing in postponing its vote on whether to award the District's transportation contract to two non-union bus companies.

On the agenda was an action item (with only 20 minutes allotted for discussion) to authorize Superintendent Olchefske to negotiate a five-year, $21 million dollar with First Student and Durham School Services to begin in September. Outside District headquarters, one could still see the muddy holes left by protest stakes planted the night before at a rally of Laidlaw bus drivers and mechanics, members of Teamsters Local 763 and Machinists Local 289. Each stake bore the name and years of service of a current Laidlaw driver or mechanic who would lose his or her job if the motion passed.

It appears the Superintendent and School Board were moved enough by the public outcry to reconsider both the process by which this motion came about (suspiciously absent of public scrutiny), and the safety concerns associated with swapping highly experienced, career drivers for cheaper, less experienced drivers who would be more prone to turnover.

So what were they thinking? The bottom line, no doubt. The trickledown economy is forcing the Seattle School District, like all other public agencies, to make significant budget cuts. The First Student and Durham bids beat out Laidlaw by $1.5 million, approximately seven percent of the overall transportation package.

Going with non-union labor, however, would amount to a quick fix with potentially dangerous consequences. As witnessed in St. Louis, where First Student undercut union drivers, the replacement bus drivers' entry-level wages were near minimum wage. Experienced drivers topped out at $9.50 per hour, according to Jobs With Justice. Seattle's Laidlaw drivers, who average thirteen years of experience, make up to $14.50 per hour with 75 percent medical coverage, ensuring a more stable and dedicated workforce.

Laidlaw machinists have similar safety concerns. Their mechanic-to-bus ratio currently is one mechanic per 18 buses. Their competitors' bid ratio is one mechanic per 42 buses.

Now tell me, would you get on a commercial airliner that just announced a cost-cutting scheme to replace all of its pilots and mechanics with inexperienced, minimum wage workers, at the same time doubling the mechanics' workload? So why would you put your child on a school bus whose management did just that? No, you wouldn't, even if it did save the District seven percent of transportation costs.

What might seem like trimming the fat is more like cutting the muscle. It's a shortsighted reaction to a budgetary shortfall that puts our school children at risk and puts several hundred skilled drivers and mechanics out of work. Not only is it myopic but also lacks the peripheral vision that public discussion would provide.

Steve Williamson, secretary-treasurer of the King County Labor Council, would likely agree. He has called for a 30-day postponement of what he calls a "flawed process" to "involve the whole community--to sit down together and find a solution" rather than "putting the crisis on the backs of the workers and the students."

The Seattle Education Association (SEA) has also weighed in on the issue in a letter to the School Board. Arguing that, "The bus drivers are an essential part of our school team," the SEA took the position that, "It is unacceptable...for the District to save money by replacing members of our team with employees who will earn less, or receive lesser benefits, or who will have no collective bargaining agreement." Educators, and the parents of our students, would be up in arms if the same cost-cutting logic were applied to school employees. And we ought to be equally upset over what is being currently being considered in executive session.

Please join me in voicing opposition to the proposed First Student and Durham transportation contracts.

You can leave messages for School Board members at 298-7040 or via email using the first letter of the Board Member's first name, followed by their last name at "seattleschools.org," (i.e. dlilly@seattleschools.org). Please contact School Board members well in advance of the vote, tentatively scheduled to be taken at their next meeting on April 3, 7 p.m.

The Teamsters Local 763 intends to hold a rally at District Headquarters just prior to the meeting. Supporters can contact them at 441-0763.

Ted Lockery is a teacher at Nathan Hale High School. He can be contacted by e-mail at teacherted@seattlepress.com.

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Pat Cuss	Sep 07, 2003	Seattle	Financial Services Advisor
Let's keep our eye on the ball here. This is about having a job to feed your family. When unions gave up their fight for economic justice for ALL working people they opened the door big enough for business to drive a school bus through. In a capitalist system, a business man must compete to survive. Generally wages are an employer's largest cost. Most businesses are alreay cut to the bone, there's nowhere else to cut. Until we see a little more "solidarity" the trend will continue. Competition intensifies (global economy -- $1.50 a day Chinese labor, etc.), jobs go offshore, local economies collapse, desperate American workers take whatever job they can get at whatever wages are offered, unions react with strident demands for protection of THEIR people, and meanwhile the money continues to do its reverse trickle down. Divide and conquer. It's the oldest ploy in the book. Unorganized labor prays to keep their underpaid jobs and the unions go on saying 'gimme more, gimme better, to hell with the rest of you'. Wake up time for the union, boys, even scabs gotta eat.