The Seattle School District appears to have reversed its stance on unionized bus drivers. Three years ago, the district dumped longtime, unionized school-bus company Laidlaw in a contentious decision to go with cheaper, non-union providers.
Non-union Durham School Services and First Student Inc. got the nod, and the school district saved $1.2 million a year, according to district spokeswoman Patti Spencer.
That was then.
Now the school board has decided in a unanimous vote to re-bid the five-year contracts two years ahead of schedule and to include a "Labor Peace/Labor Harmony" section that protects drivers' rights to unionize, she said.
The decision to put the contracts out for bid early goes against thinking at the district staff level, Spencer added. Overall, the transportation manager has been pleased with the performance of both companies, she said. "Based on that, the recommendation was to continue with the contracts."
A lot of First Student drivers are steamed about the school board decision, charging that the change was made as political payback for union support of three school board members in particular.
They also say the push for a union is coming from a core group of drivers at Durham, a company the National Labor Relations Board ruled had "selectively and disparately" enforced company regulations when it disciplined two drivers involved in union activities last year.
No one at Durham returned a call for comment by deadline, but First Student driver Marcia Lashua said she knows many Durham drivers and estimated that 90 percent of them are appalled by the proposed contract. "We see them at the schools; we talk to them," she said.
Durham employs 90 drivers who transport only special-education and Head Start students, while First Student has 360 drivers who operate out of bus lots in Interbay and in South Seattle.
Others at the smaller company have a different view of the contract than those who have talked to Lashua, according to an open letter to First Student drivers from the Durham Drivers Union Organizing Committee. Signed by 18 committee members, the letter notes there has been a decline in the relationship between the two groups of drivers since the school board decision.
"Heated discussions have taken place, and in a few cases, angry gestures have been made," the Durham letter says. The letter also concedes the situations are different at First Student and Durham, where "we have been struggling with management almost from the beginning."
By contrast, many drivers at First Choice have told Durham drivers they feel well treated, according to the letter. "We hope you understand that we never intended to undercut this relationship, only to improve our own conditions at Durham."
Adding to the change in the school board attitude is a change in the union involved with drivers. Laidlaw drivers were represented by the Teamsters Local 763, but Durham drivers have joined forces with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925.
"I've been a union person my whole life," said Lashua, who worked as a Teamster at Laidlaw for 27 years before joining First Student, which is the first non-union job she's ever had. "I love it."
There would be no guarantee that wages would go up or that benefits would improve if First Student turned into a union shop, she said. "They want to force us to join a union whether we want to or not," Lashua said of Durham drivers pushing for unionization.
Irene Cor, another First Student driver, is also not interested in joining SEIU, saying the move is unnecessary. A former Laidlaw driver and Teamster, Cor said she didn't care for the adversarial them-versus-us attitude at the company. "They would just bark at you every morning," she said of management at Laidlaw.
"Here at First Student, we have an open door policy," Cor said of management. "We go and talk to them all the time."
She also charged that the school board is acting as if the Labor Peace/Labor Harmony clause will help the drivers when it could result in the firings of hundreds of them if First Choice and Durham lose their contracts. "To me, it's like they're playing politics, and we're the ones who will pay the price."
First Student driver Doug Medved agrees with Cor that the workforce at the company is largely happy with the way things are now. But he also worries about unintended consequences of the changes a union could bring.
"The ironic thing is, by bringing in a union, the very thing this contract is meant to address would create the likelihood there would be a strike if labor issues come up," Medved said.
First Student senior contract manager Gail Heaton said the company has tried to create a "family atmosphere" for its workers. She conceded that not everybody working for the company is necessarily thrilled to be there. "But a majority of the employees are happy with the job."
Heaton said it would hard to tell if wages would go up if First Student is unionized. "I know I don't have a lot of trust for unions," she said.
Heaton also slammed the school board for its decision to re-bid the contracts with a new focus. "First of all, it's not their place to make us sign a Labor Peace/Labor Harmony contract," she said.
There's nothing in the contract language specifying a particular union, and the new school district contract doesn't mean that bus drivers will automatically have to join one, noted Seattle School Board member Dick Lilly.
But he was fairly tight-lipped about the controversial aspects of the new contract. "Several of the board members wanted stronger Labor Peace/Labor Harmony language than the old contract contained," is all Lilly would say. "We're allowed to re-bid (contracts) every year," he added. "We usually don't."
Cor said it wouldn't matter whether the union involved was the Teamsters or SEIU. "I can't see them giving anything I don't have now," she added.
School district spokeswoman Spencer said the new school-bus contracts were sent out for bids on Jan. 28 and that responses are due March 10. A district evaluation committee, she added, will focus on elements that include costs, driver selection and screening, management and personnel practices, proposed wage and benefit packages, and location of the company's facilities.
Spencer estimates that the school board will come to a decision on the contracts sometime in April.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
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