Hundreds of Local Bus Drivers Rally for Better Wages

Dixie Joe wrote:

Neighborhood schools and jails that are within walking distance of the community they serve would provide exersize to the fat kneegrow women that would need to take the spawn to school and then visit their men in jail. The rest of us would use private schools and deliver our children to school in our SUV's.

Bubba Roid wrote:

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Unions are corrupt. Real simple. In todays USA working people are losing benefits, not receiving more. Pay raises do not keep up with inflation.
Keep your Kalifornia opinions on the Left coast where they belong.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>First Student( a British Company)has the contract because they, as well as the local companies bid for it and First Student submitted a bid lower than that of your precious local contractor. No doubt that they were able to do so owing to the crap wages they pay their drivers. The First Student organizing campaign is not limited to Jacksonville, its nationwide. If the Teamsters negotiate wages and benefits with First Student which hamper their ability to turn a profit or are higher than the local contractors pay then next time around the local folks should win back the bid. What's the problem?

Dixie Joe wrote:

Neighborhood schools and jails that are within walking distance of the community they serve would provide exersize to the fat kneegrow women that would need to take the spawn to school and then visit their men in jail. The rest of us would use private schools and deliver our children to school in our SUV's.

Supporter wrote:

First Student is far from being strapped for cash! They are the largest school bus contractor in the US and of course, Giant Transport Company all around the world!
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Islander native wrote:

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Please explain how being "the largest school bus contractor in the US" alleviates First Student from being "strapped for cash".

Bubba Roid wrote:

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Unions are corrupt. Real simple. In todays USA working people are losing benefits, not receiving more. Pay raises do not keep up with inflation.
Keep your Kalifornia opinions on the Left coast where they belong.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text> More name calling and no answers to my questions. In todays USA, unions have been beaten to a pulp by corporate interests with a generous bit of help from anti-union consultants(lawyers)and the government. The Bushies appointed anti-union consultants(lawyers) to run the NLRB and they have made it harder to join a union and refuse to enforce the law when unions win, but jump to issue injunctions against picketing and overturned decades of precedent in order to derail organizing campaigns. Despite this lawlessness by the Bushies, and the offshoring of manufacturing jobs(union and non-union alike), organized labor saw its ranks grow by a net 364,000 members last year. The loss of benefits, and pay raises that don't keep up with inflation are a function of an economy that favors taxpayer funded globalization and a race to third world status. Who does that benefit? The heavily unionized industrial might that won two world wars and created the American middle class is being dismantled and sold to the communist Chinese! BTW-the wages of all Americans outside of the corporate suite are stagnant. Kalifornia? Where's that? I was born and raised on the Redneck Riviera and now reside in Los Angeles, California, home of Ronnie Raygun, Pete Wilson, George Duekmegian, B1 Bob Dornan and other notable lefties.. Do you say Democrat party? Thought so.

Islander native wrote:

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Where precisely did I call anyone lazy? Where precisely did I indicate non-union workers are not?
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You call it "controlling your destiny", I call it limiting your destiny. You're giving up unlimited upside potential for a guaranteed stop loss. That's fine for the unmotivated but not me.
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Uhhhhh, If you think signing a contract for any of the above is for your benefit, you haven't actually read your mortgage, car loan agreement, and cell phone contract.
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As I said, unions are great, for the unmotivated. Union managers CAN'T question union employee conduct as long as they meet the lackadaisical standards set forth by the union.
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Unions haven't done anything for workplace safety since the 60's. Which coincidentally was the last decade unions waining usefulness. When created, unions were beneficial and necessary. However, by the end of the 60's their usefulness became so low they actually became counterproductive which has increased ever since.
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I don't make a "living wage", which is such a wore out union term. I make much, much, more. I am motivated by my own success and therefore want to do more than earn a "living wage". The union, I can assure you, has never fought for me.
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At least we agree on something - the "labor movement" is in fact a movement. As a sought after productive employee, I demand health insurance. The union provides nothing for me and only a growth ceiling for you.
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If unions are so beneficial, why is membership declining? Pensions? Pensions? Holy crap, do you have any idea how much pensions burden future workers? Perhaps pensions are why the 30-year-olds you refer to are making less money than their parents. Perhaps it's because there isn't enough money left after companies pay pensions. Do you honestly think a worker should be paid by a company until death?
If you love the union and it works for your family, I'm honestly thrilled for you. I prefer to negotiate my own salary and benefits, I prefer to control my own retirement, I prefer to control my own destiny and that of my family. No one, and certainly not some corrupt union boss, can or will do that better than me.

Supporter wrote:

First Student is not strapped for cash! They CAN afford to treat US School Bus Workers better. This includes drivers, attendants, mechanic's.
I'm not certain what your question is, however, the CEO of FirstGroup UK raked in over $2.6 "Million" in 2005 for his salery, stock options package. Since then, the company has grown with their acquisition of LaidLaw Bus Transportation Company in Napierville, IL.
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Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text> Union sponsored safety regulations have been under attack by the affected industries since their inception. Business lobbying and corrupt politicians have conspired to undermine them as "anti-competitive" or otherwise unnecessary.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text> Union negotiated wages and benefits were extended to all US workers, thus raising the standard of living in the country as a whole. Including you.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>There is only a floor negotiated in a union contract-not a ceiling-artificial or otherwise.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>Union workers are fired for cause everyday-not just questioned! The difference is that the union contract requires the employer to first prove that the infraction occurred and that termination is a just penalty, applied without bias to similarly situated workers.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>There is nothing in a union contract that management did not cost out or analyize before agreeing to it.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>Companies do not pay workers until death. Workers pension funds are pooled and invested in securities, the profits of which are used to pay the workers until death. If management had not started raiding pension funds(after receiving from the Reagan administration, favorable opinions as to whom "excess" pension fund money belonged to)or had not ceased making the contributions that they agreed to make, when they were supposed to be made, no pension crisis would exist.

Prep-H wrote:

<quoted text>What is a "union boss" and specifically to whom in todays labor movement would you affix that appelation?

Harvey Birdman wrote:

i used to drive a bus in buenos aires. the children would shower me with guacamole and corn chips for my patriot like image that resembles the UN. bus drivers could boost their profits by selling muffins to the dear children who shall one day be our future and nursing home abuser!