Dattco Drivers Join Teamsters Local 671

Workers Organize for Better Working Conditions, Higher Standards

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Nov 15, 2019, 12:43 ET

WINDSOR, Conn., Nov. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Drivers employed by Dattco School Bus have voted to affiliate with Teamsters Local 671. The drivers provide pupil transportation services for students attending Windsor Public Schools.

"We are thrilled to welcome these workers into our union family, and I'd like to thank all of our business agents and organizers who were essential to this victory," said David A. Lucas, Local 671 Secretary-Treasurer. "We look forward to negotiating a contract that's on par with the exceptional wages and working conditions that we have gotten at all of our Teamster school bus yards throughout the greater Hartford area."

"This the first union election won at Dattco, and it's because workers stuck together and stood strong, even in the face of a nasty anti-union campaign by the company," said Tony LePore, Local 671 Business Agent and IBT Passenger Transportation Division Eastern Region Representative. "We couldn't be happier with the result."

Pam Dupre has been a school bus driver for seven years, and she served on the Dattco School Bus Organizing Committee. She had been a union member when she worked for the Postal Service, so she knew how important it was for her and her coworkers to vote yes.

"Through the grapevine, we heard that the union yards have paid holidays, they have safety bonuses, attendance bonuses," Dupre said. "I thought, 'if school bus companies can do that at their union yards, they can do that across the board.' With persistence, we persevered, and we won. To the other school bus workers out there who are thinking of doing this; people need to know that this is worth it, and that they should work on it at their yard, because the benefits will come around. Never give up."

Teamsters Local 671 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Connecticut. For more information, go to http://teamsters671.com.

Contact:
Galen Munroe, (202) 624-6911
[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 671