FirstGroup Workers in New Jersey and Illinois Vote for Teamster Representation

January 10, 2008                                                   

(Washington, D.C.) – FirstGroup workers in New Jersey and Illinois overwhelmingly voted this week to retain the Teamsters Union as their bargaining representative, joining the more than 5,000 bus drivers, aides and mechanics who have become proud members of the union since May 2006.

In Lafayette, New Jersey, a First Student yard with 102 workers stood together in a fight for better wages, benefits and a safe workplace. The group of bus and van drivers, transit drivers, attendants, monitors, aides, mechanics and lot workers won representation with Local 102 in Springfield, New Jersey, as 71 percent chose the Teamsters.

“I am thrilled that we are now Teamsters,” said Diana Talmadge, a monitor at First Student, “My husband has been a Teamster for over 28 years and I have seen firsthand what a union can do. The union stood behind my husband and that’s what we need here.”

The victory is part of an effort to organize private school bus drivers across the country. Driving Up Standards is a national campaign by the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Transport and General Workers’ (T&G) union to improve safety, service and work standards in the private school bus industry. Since 2006, more than 1,000 private school bus workers have joined the Teamsters Union in New Jersey alone.

“The group was extremely motivated. They saw what the Teamsters were doing for so many of their peers in New Jersey,” said Kevin O’Conner, President of Local 102. “That motivation helped them get the results they wanted. We are honored to have these workers in Local 102 and look forward to working with them to get a strong first contract.”

In Joliet, Illinois, workers at First Transit, the U.S. commercial transportation arm of Aberdeen, Scotland-based FirstGroup, also won Teamster representation following a smooth campaign run by Local 179. The 13 drivers in the unit encountered little resistance from the company in their bid to join the union to receive better pay and benefits.

“It was a good campaign because the First Transit didn’t try to run an anti-union campaign,” said Local 179 organizer John Flynn. “It was a refreshing change to see a company allow its workers to organize without fear intimidation or retribution.”

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