Troubles continue with First Student
Bus drivers at Portland Public Schools ink new deal
B Y DON M C INTOSH
A SSOCIATE E DITOR
School bus drivers at Portland Pub-
lic Schools have a new union contract
— 14 months after their old one ex-
pired. The settlement, with bus con-
tractor First Student, came three weeks
after an Oct. 3 strike vote by the 220-
worker bargaining unit. The drivers are
members of Portland-based Amalga-
mated Transit Union Local 757.
But the agreement is likely to be a
temporary peace, said Anna Tompte, a
member of the Local 757 Executive
Board. Tompte — who drives students
at Hayhurst, Rieke, and Robert Gray
schools — will soon be back negotiat-
ing with First Student. The new con-
tract expires in less than 10 months.
And bargaining begins Jan. 26 for a
separate contract covering bus me-
chanics.
First Student is a division of First
Group, a multi-national transit indus-
try contractor based in the United
Kingdom.
Even as Portland Public Schools
bus drivers settle for now, their fellow
Local 757 members have authorized a
strike at First Transit, which has a con-
tract with TriMet to drive the vans that
transport the disabled. First Transit is a
PAGE 8
separate division of First Group, but
uses the same negotiators.
And all around the Portland metro
area, units of First Student have their
own fights with the company. Three
groups of workers represented by Ore-
gon School Employees Association
(OSEA) are waiting for a federal
judge’s decision in a National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) case that has
been under way since mid-2010. In its
investigation, the NLRB found that
First Student repeatedly violated fed-
eral labor law and failed to bargain in
good faith with OSEA-represented
school bus drivers at the Gresham-Bar-
low, Lake Oswego, and Molalla school
districts — canceling wage increases,
attendance bonuses, and matching con-
tributions; canceling meetings and re-
fusing to meet with union bargaining
teams; refusing to answer basic ques-
tions necessary to bargain; and refus-
ing to negotiate wages, benefits and
economic issues until all non-eco-
nomic issues had been agreed to.
As a for-profit enterprise, First Stu-
dent makes money when it limits
worker pay — and maintenance costs.
Drivers interviewed by the Labor Press
complained at length about problems
with the buses they’re given to drive —
“They send us out there with buses that are marginal,” says First Transit
school bus driver Joe Clyde. Clyde, who drives students at Lincoln High
School, used to work as an aircraft mechanic at United Air Lines and at
Horizon. Above, he uses a tire gauge to show wear on the rear tires at the bus
yard at 6755 NE Columbia Blvd. Under a new six-year contract with the
district, however, First Student will bring in new buses next year and retire
old ones.
frequent breakdowns, bald tires, broken
two-way radios. Don Morrison, who
drives students at Vestal, Whitman, and
Sellwood schools, says he didn’t have
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
an antenna for nine months, so when
dispatch wanted to communicate about
a lost child, they were unable to reach
him. Many of the buses were purchased
in 1997, and have outlived their 10-year
life expectancy. Tompte says there were
25 buses per mechanic when she
started in 1993 and that today there are
50 buses per mechanic.
Many of those complaints are likely
to be remedied, however, said Portland
Public Schools transportation services
director Andy Leibenguth. That’s be-
cause under the district’s new six-year,
$69-million contract with First Stu-
dent, the company will be moderniz-
ing its school bus fleet next year.
For now, Tompte said drivers at
Portland Public Schools are happy
with the new contract. The vote to rat-
ify was unanimous, once 30 workers
who voted “no” changed their votes.
Two 2.5 percent raises bring the start-
ing wage up to $13.22, and the top rate
(reached after six years) to $15.76 —
for most work. Because the two-year
contract is retroactive to Sept. 1, 2010,
most drivers will get a back pay check
of around $500. Workers also got some
protection against increased insurance
premiums: First Student agreed to ab-
sorb all premium increases up to 12
percent, and split 50-50 any increase
above that.
“We walked away with 80 percent
of what we asked for,” Tompte said.
NOVEMBER 18, 2011