Bus drivers reach out to community in contract fight with First Student

Drivers prepared to strike if negotiations fail

By ALEXANDRA NOTMAN
Of The News (as published in West Lane News 12/17/09

VENETA — "My kids don't ride the bus anymore," says Lydia Admire, a parent in the Fern Ridge School District (FRSD). "Gordon was a good reason to get up in the morning and get on the bus. We need to know who is driving our children. This is a really important job."

Gordon Vitus and Diane Schmitt, former and current FRSD bus drivers, sip coffee at a table in Our Daily Bread Restaurant on a brutally cold December morning. A hefty stack of papers sits in front of them.

The stack includes newspaper clippings of  drivers’ strikes against school bus contracting company First Student from across the country and spreadsheets of FRSD drivers’ wages compared to that of other school districts in the area. Letters from community members, parents and the Elmira High School (EHS) Principal Gary Carpenter, written to show First Student local support for the bus driver’s struggle to unionize, add to the pile.

"We need the community's help," says Vitus, who was fired  by First Student last spring amid controversy.

"This company has no value in our community," says Dianne Schmitt, the parent of an EHS student and a district bus driver for 11 years. "I think they are being greedy."

The Fern Ridge School District bus drivers have been fighting for over a year to unionize and negotiate a contract with First Student. On Halloween of 2008, the drivers voted unanimously in favor of forming a union.

Their requests, say Vitus and Schmitt, are simple and reasonable; the bus drivers want to negotiate a contract that would include seniority rights, a grievance procedure, basic job protections, sick leave and improvements on wages and benefits.

The FRSD bus drivers and the 206 Teamsters Union have two days of negotiations with First Student remaining in December. They hope to have an approved contract by January 2010. However, if a contract is not settled, a strike is imminent.

"We're going to make every effort we can to reach an agreement with First Student," says Ostrach about the possibility of a strike. "We don't want to inconvenience the community and parents. But if we can’t get First Student to come to a reasonable settlement, we are going to exercise that option."

The local labor dispute has been brewing for a while. In Feb. 2007, First Student bought FRSD’s former transportation contractor, Laidlaw, which also gave First Student a controlling interest in Greyhound Lines, North America's largest bus operator. First Student is a division of First Group, a British transportation company based in Aberdeen, Scotland.

According to First Group's website, the company "is the world's leading transport operator with annualized revenues of £6 billion,” employing over 130,000 people in the UK and North America and transporting 2.5 billion passengers per year.

Health benefits stand out as a key concern for the bussing conglomerate’s local employees. The company's Oregon website states that "First Student includes a comprehensive benefits package that provides medical, dental, and eye care coverage plus a 401(k) plan."

"They have a benefit plan that employees can buy into, with the employees paying the full cost. First Student doesn't pay anything," says Stefan Ostrach, the Local 206 Teamsters Union Representative who is helping FRSD bus drivers negotiate a contract. "It's expensive and most of them can't afford to pay for it.”

Vitus says that it would have cost him $1,500 a month to provide health care for his family through First Student's plan, a price that he could have never afforded with his former salary. Schmitt agrees that she cannot afford the plan that First Students offers with the salary she receives.

FRSD pays First Student $224.80 to $226.99 for each three-hour route its employees drive, depending on the size of the bus, which translates to about $75 an hour. The company's starting rate for new employees is $9.50 an hour, and after seven years, they pay 12.05 an hour. Vitus points out that other school districts in the area start at $13.55 an hour and drivers in the nearby Harrisburg School District start out making $16.60 an hour with benefits.

"We want equal pay for equal work," says Vitus, frowning beneath a thick, salt and pepper beard.

In Oregon, bus driver must go through 22 hours of classroom training and 15 hours of behind-the-wheel training, all of which is unpaid. The training includes emergency evacuation, fire prevention, snow and ice preparation, destination navigation, defensive driving, student management and sexual harassment procedures. Agility testing requires drivers to be able to carry a 125 lb. person off a bus. Drivers must also be CPR and first aid certified, which is paid for by First Student.

"I don't think the community realizes how much training you must do to be a bus driver," says Teresa, Vitus' wife. "They are highly professional people. Someone who pumps gas or flips a burger makes more."

Community members like Admire and Corinne Womack, a Vitus family friend, are taking notice of the negotiations and hope to see the drivers receive a contract, They also hope to see 44 Gordy, as the ever-popular 44-Gordy is know by the community, driving FRSD students to school again.

"It makes you feel like the company that takes the children around doesn't have any heart. They don't care who is taking the children as long as it is cheap," says Womack of First Student. "Its just not right, it's not Christian, its not even good business. The kids are important to our community and they should be surrounded by people who care about them. They are getting rid of good people who like to work with children just because of the pay."

Both Admire and Womack believe if the public knew what the drivers were paid there would be more of a community-wide effort to put pressure on First Student to negotiate a contract. Some, however, see the need for the Fern Ridge School board, who contracted the company, to step in.

The FRSD bus drivers attended a school board meeting last November and explained their concerns to the board. Board members responded that, while they appreciated the bus drivers' concerns, FRSD has a contract with First Student until June 30, 2011.

"We're hoping the community will rally behind the bus drivers and put pressure on the school board and not let the school board hide behind First Student," says Ostrach. "They employ First Student. If they don't like what First Student does they can change it. First student is taking this money out of the community. The difference in what their paying goes to the stockholders wherever they maybe, rather than the bus drivers who would be putting money back into the community. We want them to pay a decent wage to the drivers and that money will circulate in the community."

Our Daily Bread's frosted windows glow in the morning light as more customers enter the cafe. Vitus and Schmitt say the past year of negotiations have made them weary, however, they will never give up.

"They are not going to stop us," says Vitus, who hopes to be a bus driver for the district again. "We are going to unionize."

"These are my kids," Schmitt says, her eyes tearing. "It's saddening to know that this company cares so little."

A women at a nearby table leans over, interrupting Vitus and Schmitt.

“I support you," she says, smiling. Vitus and Schmitt smile back, nod their heads, and say "thank you."

Julie Locke, the First Student Branch Supervisor for the Fern Ridge School District, refused comment for this article. No other First Student representatives were available for comment at the time of publishing.