WHEREAS, delegates to the 27th Convention resolved that the Teamsters adopt the privatized school bus industry as a priority for organizing;

WHEREAS, the Union resolved to Drive Up Standards for school bus workers, school children, families and communities grappling with the effects of privatization in the school transportation industry;

WHEREAS, the Teamsters Union initially engaged in a comprehensive global campaign at FirstGroup, PLC, now the largest provider of private school transportation in North America;

WHEREAS, the Teamsters joined with its global union partner, the Transport & General Workers Union (now UNITE) to educate and engage stakeholders around FirstGroup’s anti-union labor relations record in the U.S.;

WHEREAS, thousands of UNITE members stood with their Teamster Brothers and Sisters to call on FirstGroup to adopt and implement a Freedom of Association policy to protect workers’ rights wherever the company operated, using their shareholdings in the company to address the company directly;

WHEREAS, Teamsters Local Unions throughout the country engaged in

coordinated ground organizing campaigns at FirstGroup and other private transportation providers, winning the vast majority of elections and building Teamster density in the industry;

WHEREAS, our Unions collectively brought pressure to bear on this multinational corporation to respect the rights of its workers to form a union in their workplace free from management intervention and to adopt and implement a policy of Freedom of Association;

WHEREAS, we have organized more than 26,000 First Student workers into the Teamsters Union, along with thousands of workers from other companies;

WHEREAS, Teamster Local Unions and members have stood firmly together during bargaining to achieve dramatic improvements for a largely disenfranchised group of workers;

WHEREAS, Members and Local Unions have jointly and fiercely enforced those collective bargaining agreements, standing together to protect hard-won job protections and improvements;

WHEREAS, through the Union’s strength, solidarity and soaring membership, members recently ratified an historic First Student National Agreement that raises standards for members throughout the country;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will continue to build its Driving Up Standards campaign to improve the lives of men and women working in the school bus industry;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will dedicate itself to improving job security and labor standards at the second-largest multi-national private school bus provider in North America, National Express Group;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will continue to build its relationship with its U.K. partner, UNITE, and join together to demand justice for workers at National Express Group;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will design comprehensive campaigns to support workers in the bus industry including ground organizing; capital strategies and strong coordinated bargaining;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will build its campaign to include workers in the public and privatized transportation industry and coach operators and transit workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Teamsters Union will demand and fight for the rights of workers to form unions in their workplaces throughout the bus industry.

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