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Answers to Our Questions
The Teamsters Union is a bottom-up, member driven union. It’s why Teamsters believe the only way to build a stronger union comes from the ground, at the local level.
Q: Does the National Agreement help us in Local Bargaining?
A: Yes! Like all Teamster contracts, negotiating committees bargain from the ground up. The Teamsters believe in a bottom-up approach to collective bargaining. The National Agreement was specially crafted with this in mind. The national agreement simply lays the groundwork, providing language to give locals a standard, starting point to negotiate additional provisions specific to the respective membership of each local. As with all Teamster contracts, members take part in the negotiation process by providing input at the local level.
Q: Will we be able to bargain about things unique to our First Student location?
A: Yes, that’s exactly why we believe in bargaining from the bottom up! School bus workers have a wide-range of issues that matter to them, and they vary from yard to yard and local to local. For example, some workers deal with freezing temperatures and snow fall, while others have to deal with flooding. The same is true of wages and benefits. This is why the National Agreement recognizes these variances in First Student operations from location to location under Article 2, the “best of both worlds clause.”
Q: What is the “best of both worlds” clause?
A: The “best of both worlds” clause allows local unions to apply the highest standards from either an existing local agreement or the national contract, which prevents workers from bargaining down.
Q: How does the national contract protect us against unfair management decisions?
A: If we have grievances with management, there are several avenues to be heard. The agreement makes certain company policies subject to the grievance procedure, binding arbitration or the National Joint Grievance Review Committee. In addition, our master contract protects us when the company holds an investigation, with this important language: “All employees shall receive their normal pay and benefits during the course of any investigation by the Employer which may lead to the imposition of discipline.”
Inspiration from the ground up!
Negotiations resume the week of February 23.
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