Cincinnati School Bus Workers Join Teamsters Local 100

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — School bus workers with First Student in Cincinnati voted resoundingly in favor of Teamsters Local 100 as their bargaining representative. The 230 drivers, monitors, lot-men and dispatchers are the latest group of private school bus and transit workers to join the Teamsters Union in order to raise standards in their workplace.

“This is wonderful. I knew this was going to happen for us,” said Bridgette Brewster, a Cincinnati First Student driver. “This is us getting our fair share, working together to have a fair workplace, with livable wages and benefits. We needed the Teamsters to move things upward for us.”

“These workers are elated,” said Troy Stapleton, President of Local 100, located in Cincinnati. “This is the perfect example of how successful we can be when the International Union and local unions work together, dedicated to helping workers raise themselves up and unite for a better future.”

On the day of the vote, the workers wore stickers that read, “Marcella’s Day,” honoring their coworker Marcella Winslow, a school bus driver who was instrumental in uniting her coworkers as Teamsters, and who recently passed away.

The workers overwhelmingly chose to join the Teamsters over the alternative options. The final vote count was 129 votes for the Teamsters; 14 for no union; and six for the International Association of Machinists (IAM), the Cincinnati workers’ former bargaining representative.

The Cincinnati victory is the latest in a successful campaign by the Teamsters to raise standards for private school bus and transit workers across the country. Drive Up Standards is a national campaign to improve safety, service and work standards in the private school bus and transit industry. Since the campaign began in 2006, more than 10,800 workers have become Teamsters.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

CONTACT: Galen Munroe of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,+1-202-624-6904

Web Site: http://www.teamster.org/