ZUM Bus Transportation Workers Vote to Strike Against Seattle Schools

 ZUM workers voted to authorize a strike against Seattle Public Schools. From PR Newswire:

Nearly 150 Zūm drivers and technicians represented by Teamsters Local 174 that provide school bus service for the Seattle School District (SSD) now sit at the precipice of a work stoppage after workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.

"As these negotiations have dragged on, it has become clear that Zūm made an unrealistically low bid to the Seattle School District to take this work, and they want to pass responsibility for that decision onto their workers rather than themselves," said Rick Hicks, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer. "These hardworking bus drivers refuse to accept less than they deserve just to help protect Zūm's bottom line, especially when Zūm executives were the ones who made the poor business decision to underbid this contract. They can either live with that decision, or they can face a strike by their workforce."

From My Northwest:

Teamsters Local 174 said in a statement that their Zum drivers want the same pay and benefits as the First Student drivers receive – but after nearly a year of negotiating with the company, they have yet to reach an agreement.

“We at Zum care deeply about our bus drivers,” the statement said. “We are currently in ongoing negotiations with Teamsters Local 174. We hope to reach a fair and equitable deal for both parties.”

The two sides have a series of meetings set for the next few weeks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more