UFCW Local 1459's blog

[image:727]At a recent safety meeting with bus drivers, Springfield's head of bus transportation, John Maloney, avoided the reality of the school bus driver's dire predicament made by recent changes to the contract bid specification. Under the contract bid that went out Tuesday, a vendor that wins the bid would be under no obligation to honor the labor agreements drivers have with the current transportation providers, First Student and Durham School Services. This change significantly increases the chances of First Student and Durham School Services losing the bid and would lead to huge cuts in health care and other major benefits important to Springfield's drivers.

It's unfortunate Mr. Maloney made no mention of these facts, choosing instead to issue false reassurances that there was little to worry about because the incoming vendor will "want quality people." After Maloney spoke, Daniel Clifford, the union representative for the drivers, took an opportunity to address the audience to correct any misperceptions. "If I'm a new vendor, I'm going to do whatever it takes to win that bid. If that means cutting health care and other benefits, I'll do it. The control board has left it wide open for [the current vendors] to lose this bid." He told workers to be ready to fight, saying, "This is going to be a tough battle. There will be more actions."

Also attending the meeting was Antonette Pepe of the Springfield School Committee. She told the drivers she was sorry that she voted to remove the language from the contract but that she was powerless to do little else because the control board had the ultimate say over the contract bid. She encouraged drivers to contact their legisltors to help get Springfield more funding from the state. "It's about time we have our legislators speak up," she said.