National Express Group's Flawed Worker Rights Policy Exposed

News provided by

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Feb 27, 2012, 05:27 ET

Teamsters Endorse Report, Call on School Bus Company to Respect Workers

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union and Britain's largest union, Unite, have endorsed the findings of a report highlighting serious flaws in National Express Group's workplace rights policy. National Express Group is the parent company to Durham School Services, the second-largest provider of school bus transportation services in the U.S.

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The report, "National Express Group's Diminution of Labor Rights in the U.S.," concludes that the company's policy enables it to continue anti-worker behavior rather than appropriately protecting the human rights of its workers. The report was written by Professor John Logan, Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University College of Business.

"This report underlines what we've known for years, that National Express Group's subsidiary, Durham School Services, takes advantage of weak labor laws in the United States to enable it to be in a position to exploit and silence its U.S. employees," said Rick Middleton, International Vice President and Chair of the Teamsters national school bus and transit campaign. "In the majority of union election campaigns, there have been clear concerns that Durham has not fully respected workers' human rights."

The report follows the introduction of a purported global "Workplace Rights Policy" by National Express Group at its annual shareholder meeting in May 2011. The company's policy was seemingly prompted by an upsurge in interest among U.S.-based workers to join a union and was implemented in a bid to preempt criticism of National Express Group's questionable labor relations record in the U.S.

Over the course of a decade, serious concerns have been raised over the negative human rights and labor relations record of National Express Group's U.S. private school bus transportation subsidiary, Durham School Services.

The company has been the recipient of National Labor Relations Board complaints and charges that raised concerns of unlawful terminations, surveillance, retribution and disparate treatment of its employees who supported unions.

"It is not helpful that a British-based company fails to adopt internationally accepted human rights conventions that would appropriately protect workers' rights and creates stumbling blocks for U.S. employees who want to join or form a union," said Steve Turner, Unite's director of executive policy. "Instead, National Express should follow the example of some of its leading competitors and introduce an effective, robust policy with independent oversight which is transparent and accountable to all the company's stakeholders."

National Express Group employs 38,000 workers worldwide, with 20,600 employees in its North American school bus division. The Teamsters represent more than 4,400 National Express workers employed by Durham School Services and Stock Transportation, the company's Canadian subsidiary.

School bus drivers with Durham in Hayward and Livermore, Calif. recently voted to join the Teamsters. During their organizing campaign, the workers held events to speak out about their working conditions, bringing their concerns to the attention of political, religious and other community leaders. Durham services 11 school districts in northern California.

The Teamsters' Drive Up Standards campaign is a global campaign to improve safety, service and work standards in the private school bus and transit industry. Since the campaign began in 2006, more than 32,500 drivers, monitors, aides, attendants and mechanics have become Teamsters. The Teamsters Union and Unite are working together to drive up standards for workers throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom at multinational bus companies, including National Express Group.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @TeamsterPower.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters