No good can come from this…
Ashley and I woke up early this morning to go to the First Student call back meeting. Traditional First Student call back/kick-off meetings are 3-4 hours. In the state of Georgia every one who is licenced and plans to transport children on a school bus must attend a 2 hour “safety meeting” presented by a representative from the state board of education. I was not told, nor was I expecting that both meetings were being held together today. I guess I was not thinking when I got the phone call lat week to say that 8 a.m. this morning was the state meeting. I brought Ashley with me thinking that at most this would be a 3-4 hour meeting. When Ashley and I arrived this morning and I saw the agenda I was really surprised to see we were scheduled to be there from 8 a.m. until 4:45 p.m.
I was sitting there waiting for the meeting to start when I noticed 3 people wearing black tee shirts that on the back said “The wheels on the bus go UNION now!” This was a little off putting since I do not support the idea of unions for school bus drivers. As more and more people filed into the room I started counting these shirts, In the room of about 300 drivers had about 100 of these shirts before the meeting started. s the meeting continued more and more of these shirts and now pins were being worn by more and more of the drivers. By the end of the day easily 40-50% of all drivers were wearing one of these shirts. We were also told that there would be a union vote on September 11, 2007. The union is marketing itself on the contract which the drivers in Beaufort, SC are working under this year. First Student has already provided the drivers with the financial and benefits of those drivers. What is truly sad is that First Student waited until the union made these large pushes to make these concessions on benefits and wages.
I am afraid after what I saw at this meeting today that the union will be voted in, and if that happens I will be looking for a new job. I can not see myself paying my hard earned money in union dues to a union who can offer me nothing that the company I work for has not already offered. This year we received real medical, dental and vision benefits, as well as AFLAC. We are being given 3 paid holidays, and 3 paid bereavement days, as well as raises.
Well back to work, one day at a time. As Paul and I have always said about First Student, especially the Snelling and Savannah locations although not exclusively, No good can come from this!