Teamsters Fight for School Bus Workers' Rights at National Express Annual Meeting

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

May 04, 2010, 06:47 ET

N.J. Bus Driver Travels to U.K. to Recount Anti-Worker Actions

WASHINGTON, May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Durham School Services bus driver from New Jersey spoke out today at the annual shareholders' meeting of Durham's U.K.-based parent company about anti-union actions inflicted on its U.S. workers.

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The anti-union activity cited by the school bus driver at today's meeting in the United Kingdom are at odds with assurances from National Express Group's chief executive at last year's annual meeting that the parent company would remain neutral in U.S. workers' decision about forming a union.

Bus driver David Gelberg told shareholders that workers at the Middletown, N.J. facility decided to seek support from the Teamsters Union last year after enduring poor working conditions and low pay with few benefits.

"Before we could vote on whether to join a union, the drivers were subjected to a fierce, anti-union campaign by management," Gelberg said. "Union-supportive workers were continually harassed and singled out for disparate treatment."

Fear and threats by Durham caused the workers to vote against forming a union late last year. However, after unfair labor practice charges were filed and the National Labor Relations Board indicated that it would issue a formal complaint against the company, another election was held and workers voted in favor of Teamster representation in March.

Similar anti-union activity by Durham was documented in a report that Gelberg brought to the meeting. The report, issued by the National Express Monitoring Commission, was recently delivered to Durham's U.S. headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill. The commission, comprised of a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, a U.S. congressman and a clergy leader, detailed the findings of a congressional hearing where National Express workers testified about the company's anti-union tactics.

Gelberg asked the parent company to commit that it will uphold statements made at last year's annual meeting saying "that employees are free to join a union without management interference in North America."

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters