News
‘Teamsters are Better than Sliced Bread’
By a margin of over 95 percent, more than 150 school bus drivers and monitors at First Student of Irving, Texas voted to join Local 745.
The drivers and monitors provide student transportation services for Irving Independent School District.
“These workers have spoken candidly,” said Brent Taylor, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 745. “What our newest members have said is that they want the job security, representation and on-the-job improvements that are guaranteed in writing with a Teamster contract at First Student.”
The Teamsters represent more than 22,000 workers at First Student. The drivers and monitors from the Irving yard will be immediately covered by the existing First Student National Master Agreement, which provides workers with industry-leading job protections.
A local supplemental agreement will be negotiated to cover wages, benefits and additional work protections.
‘Let Freedom Ring’
Felicia Barnett and Bessie Young are drivers at the Irving yard who said that they are looking forward to collective bargaining.
“The Teamsters are better than sliced bread,” Barnett said. “Unions are coming to the south in a big way. Let freedom ring!”
“All I can say is wow,” Young said. “This experience has opened up my eyes to a whole new world that I love being a part of. Teamsters are number one in my book!”
Local 745 represents thousands of workers throughout a wide variety of industries in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area.