Teamsters, School Bus Workers Rally At Durham Headquarters Near Chicago
(CHICAGO) – Teamster members, Chicago-area school bus workers and community groups rallied outside the corporate headquarters of Durham School Services in Downers Grove, Ill., and delivered a report on the company’s anti-worker activities yesterday. View all photos from this event here.
The rally and the report are part of the Teamsters Union’s Drive Up Standards campaign for school bus workers. Durham is a subsidiary of the British company National Express Group.
“We’re here to show the school bus drivers around Chicago that they can rely on us to help them achieve higher wages and benefits,” said Jim Glimco, President of Teamsters Local 777 in Brookfield, Ill. “We are joined today by bus drivers working at First Student who already know the benefits of being Teamster members and members of the community who support this fight.”
“The rally today shows us how important this fight for Durham workers is,” said Tani Benson, a five-year First Student bus driver and new member of Local 777. “We appreciate the support of the other union members here and the community groups.”
Bob Hollenbach, a bus driver with the Cook County school system, spoke at the rally about his experience at his bus yard. “We are fortunate to be members of Local 777, but some new drivers in our yard are from another employer. They see that our wages and benefits are much better under the Teamsters and now they are forming a union, too. I know the value of being a member of a union because prior to becoming a bus driver I was a 30-year member of the roofers union.”
The report, from the National Express Monitoring Commission, was delivered to Durham School Services and details the 60 complaints issued by the National Labor Relations Board against the company for mandatory anti-union meetings, unjust firing for union activity and intimidation and threats to workers. A copy also was delivered to the Chicago offices of the British Consulate.
To view the report, click here.
“It saddens me that Durham feels that it is all right for the upper echelons at their company to have high wages, yet they don’t feel this way about their workers - the ones who take care of our most precious commodity, our children,” said the Rev. Frank Raines III, one of the commission members responsible for the report.
Kim Bobo, Executive Director of the Interfaith Worker Justice and author of “Wage Theft in America,” said: “We are presenting this report to Durham Services so they can learn about their sin and reveal the message of truth. Let’s drive justice for Durham, drive justice for the workers and drive justice today.”
Teamster bus drivers in the Chicago area have experienced improved wages and benefits from a Teamster contract. The Teamsters Union represents more than 24,000 school bus workers
“Our numbers keep growing because workers know they are better off as part of a Teamster union contract,” Glimco said.
Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.