SCHOOL-BUS STRIKE OVER: Drivers approve agreement with First Student, will return to work Monday

12:56 PM: That’s the scene earlier today at the Teamsters Local 174 hall in Tukwila, where First Student school-bus drivers voted on the agreement announced Friday. The photo is from West Seattle driver Al, who provided updates during the 7-day strike, and told us earlier that everyone he’d talked to was in favor of the agreement. He just texted to say the drivers have been told they voted 97 percent “yes,” so the strike IS over and they will be back to work Monday. We’ll update this story whenever the official statement comes in.

1:11 PM: We have received this statement from First Student’s lead negotiator Kim Mingo, confirming the strike is over and yellow-bus service for Seattle Public Schools will resume Monday:

We are very pleased that First Student yellow bus drivers have voted to ratify the expanded benefits program included within their contract. We look forward to resuming the reliable transportation that First Student is known for, and that Seattle Public Schools families depend on, on Monday.

6:18 PM: The union’s announcement says a bit more about what’s in the deal:

The new agreement is an overwhelming victory for the group of more than 400 bus drivers. Most of them did not receive healthcare through their employer and did not have access to a reasonable retirement plan. All of that changes with the ratification of this agreement.

The agreement provides quality healthcare at an affordable cost. It also provides the bus drivers with a Teamster pension plan, the first ever achieved for contracted school bus drivers in Seattle and possibly the entire country for First Student members.

Read Local 174’s full statement here.

8 Replies to "SCHOOL-BUS STRIKE OVER: Drivers approve agreement with First Student, will return to work Monday"

  • Brother February 10, 2018 (2:34 pm)

    Proud member of the 174 teamsters union. The struggle to provide affordable health care in this country is beyond crazy,  it’s a damn travesty!

  • Proworker February 10, 2018 (3:13 pm)

    As a proud union member(IAM)be proud you stood strong. My only wish is that those that chose to scab would have to work under the old contract and not receive the better benefits.

  • T February 10, 2018 (5:08 pm)

    I want more affordable healthcare and a better retirement plan too. But, I’m not in a union so if I strike I basically loose my job.

    • solidarity February 10, 2018 (6:19 pm)

      If you’re looking to organize your work place, it seems there are some people in this comments section who could point you in the right direction.  :)

  • DP February 10, 2018 (5:36 pm)

    T – at least you have Internet comment sections to whine on. Life choices, T. Life choices. 

  • MJ February 10, 2018 (5:58 pm)

    All parties had a vested interest in getting this resolved.  Local Transit Agencies are hiring, thus the bus drivers had other options.  In fact, Community Transit is advertising on TV touting $29 per hour plus benifits!

  • TJ February 10, 2018 (6:32 pm)

    They got what they wanted, so looking forward to not hearing from them ever again. “Life choices”…don’t like what your job is providing, get a new one. THAT is leverage First Choice would have to deal with. I didn’t like my health coverage and knew I was underpaid once, so I quit and got what I wanted at another company. Now I own my own company. Each is their own master at the end of the day. No one is entitled to anything from anothers employment

  • Rusty February 11, 2018 (4:27 pm)

    “Proud member of the 174 teamsters union. The struggle to provide
    affordable health care in this country is beyond crazy,  it’s a damn
    travesty!”

    If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be ironically hilarious. Your national teamsters union fully supported the ACA, with their cadillac plan carve-out. Instead of doing things that would lower health care costs such as;

    1. Your plan (and subsidies) follow you, not your job,

    2. Being able to buy/sell across state lines,

    3. A la carte coverage, as long as it includes catastrophic care (maybe the biggest one),

    4. Publishing pricing,

    the ACA institutionalized them. We spent a billion dollars on a website that didn’t work. Doing those things – i.e., free market solutions, would have lowered health care costs significantly and we could have helped more people get coverage they could afford. The ACA made it more expensive. If we reformed health care and insurance, we could have come up with a solution for pre-existing conditions that wouldn’t bankrupt us and make a large number of peoples’ insurance un-affordable. If you have a plan but can’t afford the deductible – or your premiums get to a point you can’t afford, that’s not insurance.

Sorry, comment time is over.