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By Bonnie Morr
Alternate Vice President – Bus Department

Right now in our country, economics is spelling out what transit and transportation will look like now and in the future.

The UTU Bus Department has been following the trends for funding that are necessary for passenger and public transportation to meet the needs of an aging population and growing automobile congestion.

It does not look good. 

In every town and community, hard decisions must be made — and we want those decisions made by lawmakers who understand the importance of adeuate, reliable and safe public transportation, including transportation of school children by bus.
 
We have a responsibility to our families, children and community to make sure that the funding for public transportation stays in place. We can do that with our votes on Election Day, Nov. 2.

When we say, “vote your paycheck,” keep in mind that the jobs of UTU Bus Department members depend on adequate, reliable and safe funding for public transportation.

We need to get out the vote for labor-friendly candidates who support adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.

Think jobs, because there are candidates out there who are coming after our jobs.

When you cast your ballot on Election Day, support candidates who will do the right thing when it comes to funding and ensuring adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.

I am a laborer. I drive a bus. I want the labor protections that labor-friendly candidates will honor with laws and regulations that my mother fought for as an organizer for the Ladies Garment Workers Union.

We have protections as union bus operators, and we want to extend those protections to the unorganized.

Let us all support candidates who are pledged to increased funding for public transportation, job security, safe working conditions and an environment that respects working families.

To view the list of labor-friendly candidates, click on the following link:

https://static.smart-union.org/worksite/PDFs/2010_cong_endorsements.pdf

UTU bus members know the violence aboard school buses all too well.

The latest shocking outbreak occurred on Long Island, N.Y., last week, when a 14-year-old boy was beaten aboard a school bus over allegations he is gay, according to Longislandpress.com.

The UTU is working with other transportation labor unions and the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO to pressure school districts to provide monitors on school buses and provide more training for drivers in the handling of school-bus violence.

By Bonnie Morr,

Alternate vice president, Bus Department

Right now in our country, economics are spelling out what transit and transportation will look like, now and in the future.

The UTU Bus Department has been following politics and the trends for funding that are necessary for passenger and public transportation to meet the needs of an aging population and growing automobile congestion. It does not look good.

In every town and community, hard decisions must be made — and we want those decisions made by lawmakers who understand the importance of adequate, reliable and safe public transportation, including transportation of school children by bus.

We have a responsibility to our families, children and community to make sure that the funding for public transportation stays in place. We can do that with our votes on Election Day.

When we say, “vote your paycheck,” keep in mind that the jobs of UTU Bus Department members depend on adequate, reliable and safe funding for public transportation.

We need to get out the vote for labor-friendly candidates who support adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.

Think jobs, because there are candidates out there who are coming after our jobs.

When you cast your ballot on Election Day, support candidates who will do the right thing when it comes to funding and ensuring adequate, reliable and safe public transportation.

I am a laborer. I drive a bus. I want the labor protections that labor-friendly candidates will honor with laws and regulations that my mother fought for as an organizer for the Ladies Garment Workers Union.

We have protections as unionized bus operators, and we want to extend those protections to the unorganized.

Let us all support candidates who are pledged to increased funding for public transportation, job security, safe working conditions and an environment that respects working families.

By Calvin Studivant
Alternate vice president, Bus Department

Newly manufactured motorcoaches would be required to have lap-shoulder seat belts – and older motorcoaches might be required to add them – under proposals from the U.S. DOT that are open for public comment.

The federal proposals do not include city or school buses. Only a handful of states require seat belts on school buses.

The DOT said that, between 1999 and 2008, there were 54 fatal motorcoach crashes resulting in 186 fatalities, most of them passengers ejected from buses. The majority of motorcoach trips – 65 percent – are made by children and senior citizens.

Wearing lap-shoulder belts on motorcoaches could reduce the risk for passengers of being killed in a rollover crash by 77 percent, says the DOT.

Separately, the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), of which the UTU is a member, has added bus issues to its Washington lobbying responsibilities. Alternate Vice President Bonnie Morr and I are working with the TTD and other AFL-CIO transportation unions to advance a successful agenda before Congress and regulatory agencies.

At our initial meeting we discussed:

  • The growing privatization of school bus transportation.
  • The increasing number of school bus drivers considered part-time or seasonal and ineligible for health care insurance, sick leave, paid vacations and retirement plans.
  • A need for improved driver training to handle challenges of students with physical and mental disabilities.
  • A need for on-board monitors, uniform disciplinary procedures and driver training to control to control unruly students.
  • A need for training in the dangers of distracted driving that affect situational awareness, and providing medical-benefit assistance to diagnose and treat sleep apnea.
  • A need for more uniform background checks and equitable standards for disqualifying drivers.
  • The drafting of a modal labor agreement for school bus districts.

If you have suggestions for other agenda topics, please contact me.

By Vic Baffoni,

Vice president, Bus Department

I extend my congratulations to all the newly elected and re-elected Bus Department officers and delegates, and I ask that they do their best to represent all their membership. Dedication and hard work must include conversation and compromise to produce results. Results are our business.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) negotiations continue on a day-by-day extension. General Chairperson James Williams and his negotiating committee continue to try to hammer out an agreement. The current political and financial climate makes it very difficult. I am confident they will succeed.

The new political environment will make it harder for our hard working members and us to succeed in the near future, but succeed we will.

In the Bus Department there is an issue that should be our priority, and that is operational funding.

Operational funding should be incorporated into all legislation that funds transit projects. Federal, state and local entities have allocated large sums of funding for new and/or expanded transit projects.

These projects fund planning and construction — not operations, which includes driver salaries.

Without operational funding, the future of these projects is in jeopardy and may only create future problems. These problems could be failure of new service, cuts in existing service, or both. UTU National Legislative Director James Stem is aware of this funding problem and has been working in Washington to educate lawmakers on this important issue. He and Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch pledge to continue fighting for this funding.

By James A. Williams
General Chairperson, LACMTA

Contract negotiations are underway between the UTU and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA).

As required by California law, the parties exchanged proposals prior to April 1, and, as also dictated by state law, began bargaining April 30.

The proposals exchanged were basically the same as those that resulted in the current one-year contract.

As usual, the MTA is crying poor; and in its proposed guidelines for the agency’s 2011 budget, there is absolutely no money for labor union members.

We also expect that the agency will be looking for some give-backs, but our negotiating committee is determined that despite the economic climate, we will preserve what our members already have, and explore every possible avenue to see what improvements might be made, monetarily or otherwise.

Unfortunately, the political atmosphere is not favorable because the majority of MTA board members represent the City or County of Los Angeles, whose employees have a wage freeze.

The safety and well being of our members depends on this union strongly enforcing the provisions of our labor contract, and I am proud of the job this general committee’s members and officers are doing in this regard.

It is not going to be easy, but this general committee has the strength and determination to bring our members a contract that protects them and their families.

Our members deserve nothing less.

By Calvin Studivant
Alternate Vice President, Bus Department

There is no question that more must be done to protect bus operators.

When operating a motor coach — whether carrying students, commuters, tourists or the handicapped – whenever we open the door, we are exposed to assaults.

Just in recent weeks, a driver in Utah was injured by a passenger who attacked him and caused the bus to crash. In Chicago, a driver was hospitalized in serious condition after being struck by a customer in a fare dispute. Almost daily, school bus operators must deal with abusive and unruly students.

Some employers are installing Plexiglas safety shields to protect drivers, and video cameras are being installed in buses and in bus terminals to record unruly behavior and threats.

In New Jersey, the state legislature passed a bill imposing severe punishment for anyone assaulting a bus operator or rail employee, and the law is proving to be effective. Coach USA has taken a further step and posted notices in its buses in New Jersey warning of the severe penalties for assaulting bus operators.

Our UTU National Legislative Office and many state legislative directors are working with lawmakers, many of whom are eager to craft legislation imposing penalties on those who assault drivers, and to require driver training in how to deal with unruly and abusive riders.

Within the UTU, from the local level to the International, we have qualified officers and staff working each day to help improve workplace safety.

Each of our bus locals should be working with state legislative directors to provide examples of the problem and suggestions for solutions, which should be communicated to lawmakers.

By Rich Deiser
Vice President, Bus Department

During my six months as Bus Department vice president, I have done my absolute best to meet many of you, and I look forward to getting to know more of you in 2010. I still have a lot to learn and look to you for guidance.

Hopefully many of you will attend a regional meeting for training and fraternity.

During 2009, we experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, but that is the nature of labor/management relations in these troubling times. I’m encouraged that 2010 will bring an upturn in the economy and our devotion to duty will be recognized more favorably.

No UTU International officer can succeed on their own, and I thank everyone involved in this huge, cooperative effort — especially Mike Futhey, Arty Martin, Kim Thompson and my alternates, Calvin Studivant and Bonnie Morr, for making this an administration of which we all can be proud.

I could not ask for a better assistant than Cara McGinty at the UTU International office, who regularly accomplishes the impossible. The Legal Department always provides sound advice. All the staff at the UTU International go out of their way to be helpful, and make one feel that we are all part of a large union family striving to help each other.

If you have questions on bus safety, please pass them along. I will do my best to have them answered.

Later this year, the UTU News will feature photos of men and women in armed forces uniform. Please send those photos to the Public Relations Department in Cleveland at “utunews@utu.org.” 

By Richard Deiser
Vice president and director, Bus Dept.

One of the most important issues facing the motor carrier industry is distracted driving.

Safe driving requires total concentration — not just on our own part, as we must also worry about other drivers not paying attention to what they are doing.

In fact, distraction can occur also in the locomotive cab and on the airplane flight deck.

As I write this column, the hot topic in the media is the airline crew that overflew their destination by over an hour. At first it was alleged that the captain and first officer were asleep. But, they later said they were using their laptops in an attempt to figure out the new method of crew scheduling.

The flight crew apparently was paying so little attention that they may as well have been asleep. There have been incidents causing death and injuries on the rails as well, such as when the locomotive engineer of a commuter train was on a cell phone and failed to see a signal.

In the past few months, there have been numerous bus accidents when either the operator or the other motorist was on a cell phone. The majority of states have now passed legislation barring the use of hand-held phones while driving. Massachusetts has gone so far as to ban any and all electronic device use by bus operators.

However, in an emergency, cell phones and communication devices can be useful, and even aid in assuring the safety of passengers.

We will be carefully monitoring legislation and policies affecting our membership and others engaged in providing transportation. In the interim, be safe and use common sense in the use of any communication device, whether personal or company provided.

By Richard Deiser
Vice President, Bus Department

Kudos to Alternate Bus Vice President-East Calvin Studivant and Alternate Bus Vice President-West Bonnie Morr for being chosen as delegates to the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, where a highlight was President Obama’s speech that may be viewed on the UTU Web site at www.utu.org.

Calvin reports that he shook the president’s hand!

Congratulations also to UTU International President Mike Futhey on his election as an AFL-CIO vice president and his appointment to the federation’s Executive Council.

Several bus locals have been involved in contract negotiations, and the trend is towards shorter agreements in the hope that the economy will improve in the near future.

If that becomes reality, we will be able to negotiate wages and benefits from a far stronger position than in the current recession.

General Chairperson James Williams (Local 1564, Los Angeles) reports his members have ratified a new one-year agreement with the LACMTA after hard work and patience of all the committee members.

General Chairperson Nelson Manzano (Local 710, Elizabeth, N.J.; One Bus) praised the work done by Vice General Chairpersons James Powell and Jose Rivera in reaching a one-year agreement with Coach USA, holding the cost-sharing for health care.

Local 1558 in Westwood, N.J., (Rockland Coaches) reached a similar accord under the direction of General Chairperson Keith Mack, assisted by Mike Byrne, Helaine Parsons, Ed Pollard, Bob Panarotti and Abe Tsay.

Calvin Studivant’s Local 759 in Paramus, N.J., (Community Transit) won an important arbitration, which resulted in an employee being restored to work status with full back pay and benefits.

Also, General Chairperson Bill Koehn (Local 1670, Laredo, Texas; Laredo Metro) is keeping a watchful eye on bus inspections at the Mexican border.

The U.S. DOT has significantly reduced the number of buses inspected, leading to worries about safety, operator fatigue and equipment maintenance on these bus lines that operate far into the U.S. American companies cannot compete effectively when confronted by cheap labor, shoddy maintenance and falsified driver logs.