Press Releases
Kansas Central School Bus Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 696
(TOPEKA, Kan.) – Drivers and monitors at Kansas Central School Bus have voted to affiliate with Teamsters Local 696. The school bus workers provide pupil transportation for students attending Topeka Public Schools.
“Congratulations to our newest members, who chose decisively and overwhelmingly to join the movement of school bus workers all across our state who are working to improve wages and working conditions through the power of a Teamster contract,” said Michael Scribner, President of Local 696. “We look forward to collective bargaining.”
The newest workers are now covered under the North American Central National Master Agreement, which covers all Teamsters employed by the company, and they will soon begin the process of negotiating a local supplemental agreement. Mike West and Candy Stodden are drivers at Kansas Central who both played critical roles during the union organizing campaign.
“In just a matter of days, I have never seen people come together so fast for a cause,” West said. “It’s all for fair and equal treatment. I am so proud of my fellow drivers and I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
“It feels great to be a Teamster,” Stodden said. “I was a member of Teamsters Local 50 in Waterloo, Illinois when I first started driving a school bus. I look forward to the consistency and protections that a union contract will provide.”
Teamsters Local 696 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout the Sunflower State.