News

A Message from Passenger Transportation Division Director Rick Middleton

Maywood First Student

Many of you employed by school districts are hopefully just beginning to enjoy your summer as coronavirus transmissions begin to subside in many parts of the country. For those of you employed in public transit, paratransit and other sectors of passenger transportation, many of you never stopped working, and your country owes you a great debt of gratitude for your continued service during the COVID-19 pandemic. With that in mind, I’d like to keep you abreast of what your union has been doing.

School bus and transit workers have been organizing and winning elections in spite of the pandemic. School bus drivers and monitors employed by A&S Transportation in New Orleans, La. joined Teamsters Local 270 in May, and drivers employed by MV Transportation in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. voted to join Teamsters Local 991 earlier this month. We also have launched a push into online organizing, with a new Facebook Page, a new YouTube Channel and a re-vamped driveupstandards.org. Digital media platforms are having a tremendous impact on social movements around the country, and we look forward to making full use of the opportunities they provide to create solidarity and unity in the workplace and at the bargaining table.

Negotiations for the First Student National Master Agreement have been going quite well in spite of the pandemic and we will be rolling out a tentative agreement to the membership within the next few weeks. The First Student NMA covers only non-economic issues; if you have questions regarding wages, scheduling or benefits for the 2020-2021 school year, please reach out to the shop steward or business agent for your local union.

 If you have any further questions or concerns for the Passenger Transportation Division, please contact Christina Groves at cgroves@teamster.org. You can also go to https://teamster.org/covid-19  for the latest news and updates regarding what your union is doing in response to the pandemic.

With Solidarity,

Rick Middleton
Director, Passenger Transportation Division