Boston School Bus Drivers: "Enough Is Enough!'

Steve Kirschbaum, union organizer for United Steelworkers local that represents the Boston school bus drivers. He is being attacked for the workers' response to poor treatment. , a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Boston school bus drivers: ‘Enough is enough!’

By Hannah Kirschbaum
October 16, 2013
Workers World

Oct. 15 — Before the sun could rise over Boston on Tuesday, Oct. 8, the rank-and-file members of United Steelworkers Local 8751 were taking a stand against what they called the unfair and illegal practices of Veolia Transportation, Inc.

These school bus drivers reported for work at all four bus yards at their appropriate punch-in times, but refused to drive their buses until Veolia agreed to a meeting with the union to discuss issues regarding the company’s failure to adhere to terms and conditions of the signed collective bargaining agreement. The drivers stated they were engaging in protected activity, not a strike. Minutes turned into hours with no response from the company.

By 11:15 a.m., the company’s response was delivered. The drivers were ordered off the property at all four yards, and the gates were closed and padlocked. An illegal lockout had begun, an action expressly prohibited by the contract.

Background on unfair, illegal company practices

Veolia assumed management of the Boston Public Schools’ transportation vendor contract on July 1. On June 18, in the midst of a transitional period prior to taking over management, Veolia signed an agreement that it would honor the union’s current contract and would operate under all terms and conditions.

Drivers say the company has consistently failed to honor the terms and conditions of that contract and in fact Veolia has engaged in a campaign to violate some of its most critical aspects. They say that the contract represents 35 years of collective-bargaining progress in wages, benefits, working conditions and drivers’ rights while on the job.

The workers have filed in excess of 50 individual and class action grievances against Veolia in violation of the contract. They involve massive and chronic weekly payroll shortages, including not allowing workers to generate their own payroll documentation — a decades-long practice of time-stamping Daily Bus Reports; unsafe and impossible bus route problems, resulting in late student pick-ups, drop-offs and overcrowding of buses; unilateral changes to and failure to provide correct health, dental, sickness and accident, and long-term disability insurance benefits; failure to provide efficient training for license renewal; failure to abide by and adhere to the grievance and arbitration process; use of GPS in violation of provisions of the contract and many more issues.

In addition to the individual and class action grievances, the United Steelworkers filed an Unfair Labor Practice containing 16 charges against Veolia with the National Labor Relations Board on Sept. 13. However, on Oct. 7, the local union was informed by its international attorney that due to the federal government shutdown, all related investigations, gathering of witness testimony, and any action on the union’s demands were indefinitely suspended.

Many of the drivers and the rank-and-file leaders have told the media that this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. USW Local 8751 Vice President Steve Gillis stated during a rally on Oct. 10, “Our drivers were denied their rights under the law to have the government act on their complaints and were forced to take matters into their own hands [on Oct. 8]. We demand that Veolia immediately stop their unfair labor practices and honor the contract they signed.”

When City Councilor Charles Yancey, a respected African-American community leader and 13-term councilor, learned of the dispute between the drivers and Veolia, he personally went to Veolia’s corporate office. At 11 a.m., Yancey, accompanied by Gillis and a delegation of drivers, attempted to request a meeting with Veolia to discuss the drivers’ protest and issues. A group of Veolia managers refused to speak with Yancey and called the police to throw the group off the property. Boston police and company managers closed and locked the gate behind them.

That afternoon Veolia made a motion in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts requesting an injunction ordering the drivers back to work. Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. denied their request, based on the fact that there was no credible evidence that the workers were “on strike” or planned a strike the following day.

Negative media and role of city officials

For four days, from Oct. 8 to 11, the Boston school bus drivers’ actions were headlined in the media — covered even before the Boston Red Sox and their postseason road to victory. Despite being at the four bus yards almost around the clock and making dogged attempts to interview bus drivers, most of the media coverage was negative and anti-union, with little regard for actual facts.

Besides not allowing neutral or pro-union commentary, the media focused on negative and slanderous comments by city officials. This is noteworthy because the bus drivers are employed by Veolia, a private company, and not by the city of Boston, making them private rather than public employees.

City officials, Mayor Thomas Menino in particular, are well aware of the union’s history and reputation of assertive advocacy for workers’ rights. They viewed this dispute as a convenient opportunity to launch an unyielding, anti-union campaign. Press statements by officials delivered false reports about the drivers’ issues. They also labeled union leaders “rogues” and “renegades,” saying they selfishly risked the safety of Boston school children by refusing to drive. Mayor Menino went so far as to say that the drivers were “selfish, angry people who can’t follow rules.” They claimed that the union instigated an illegal strike while saying nothing about the company’s lockout.

While acknowledging the federal court’s ruling against an injunction, Menino called for the termination of all employees involved in “the strike.” The Boston Public Schools issued daily robo calls to parents fraudulently warning of impending problems caused by the “renegade element” of school bus drivers who were instigating “the strike,” even after the lockout ended the next morning.

Veolia’s bad faith negotiations: ‘An injury to one is an injury to all!’

Union leaders said that on Oct. 9, after the company ended its illegal lockout and finally agreed to meet with the union, the drivers returned to their runs in a show of good faith. Negotiations between Local 8751 and Veolia lasted approximately 10 hours that day.

Nevertheless, the parties were unable to come to an agreement on any of the 15 issues the union wanted to discuss. Instead, company management responded by delivering letters of suspension, with the threat of termination, to Local 8751 Vice President Steve Gillis and Grievance Committee Chairperson Steve Kirschbaum, and by threatening disciplinary action against an additional five union members. As of Oct. 15, three more drivers are being disciplined.

Despite a large, heavy-handed police presence of dozens of cops and under the watchful eye of the media, hundreds of workers rallied in support of the two suspended leaders at the Readville bus yard at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 10. They came from all four city bus yards. The workers roared their support for several minutes before Kirschbaum, a founder of the union, and Gillis were able to give their speeches about what happened at the negotiations. Both men have decades of leadership in the union.

For this and other videos giving the workers’ point of view, see the Team Solidarity website at tinyurl.com/d5tntcg.

As drivers from all four bus yards took the microphone, they vowed to stand as one with their leaders and to continue their just struggle until Veolia and the city of Boston respect their contract and their rights.


Union’s pro-solidarity history wins support in class battle

By John Catalinotto on October 16, 2013

Oct. 14 — A giant transnational corporation’s grinding attack on a militant union in Boston has led to an explosion of struggle. The workers’ action has already begun to attract support from class-conscious workers and unionists around Boston, the U.S. and the world who are determined to stop union busting. The conflict continues into its second week.

On one side of the struggle in Boston, the French-based Veolia transnational monopoly is repeating its attack on union contracts that has provoked workers from France to Finland into taking action to defend their rights.

On the other side is the United Steelworkers school bus drivers’ Local 8751. The union held mass protest demonstrations earlier this year and filed 16 grievances with the National Labor Relations Board to defend their contract.

Local 8751 is known throughout New England not only for its record of defending workers’ rights, but its solidarity with community and Civil Rights struggles since the 1974 desegregation of schools. It is also known for its splendid record of solidarity with other locals. Local 8751 sent a busload of members to support New York’s school bus drivers and matrons, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, during their strike last February.

The latest confrontation between Veolia Transportation, Inc. and Local 8751 burst into the open the morning of Oct. 8 when more than 800 bus drivers said, “Enough is enough.” They were responding to what they called union-busting and racist, plantation-style treatment since Veolia took over Boston’s school bus contract last summer. A video report on ABC Channel 5 Boston shows how the bosses answered by locking the workers out of the yard that day.

Union leaders said that in a show of good faith, the drivers returned to their runs on Oct. 9 after the company finally agreed to meet with the union. But instead of negotiating the workers’ grievances, management responded by delivering letters of suspension with the threat of termination to two union leaders and by threatening actions against others.

Not only the company but also Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and his administration have tried to target Local 8751, whose membership now is of mostly Haitian and Cape Verdean origin, and its militant union leaders.

Mayor Menino joined the attacks on the leaders, calling them “a rogue element” and making other personal attacks in the Boston Globe. The ultraright Boston Herald tried to pillory them for their leftist history. (Oct. 10)

The attack on Local 8751’s most active unionists is an attempt to crush the union by dividing the rank and file from the leaders and the union from Boston parents. The union has been taking steps to respond to the attack.

Workers rally to support union leaders

Hundreds of workers rallied around the two leaders at the Readville bus yard at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 10, despite a large, heavy-handed police presence of dozens of cops. The workers roared their support for several minutes before Stevan Kirschbaum, a founder of the union and chairperson of the union’s grievance committee, and Vice President Steve Gillis, a longtime leader, were able to describe what happened at the negotiations and thereafter.

At this videotaped open meeting, Gillis said he and Kirschbaum had received the suspension letters following 10 hours of fruitless negotiations. (For this and other videos giving the workers’ point of view, see the Team Solidarity website at tinyurl.com/d5tntcg.)

That same evening, at a standing-room-only solidarity meeting called on a day’s notice by Team Solidarity (the rank-and-file organization of the bus drivers’ union), the room was packed with a broad cross section of political allies, including leaders of the Coalition for Equal Quality Education, Palestine Solidarity, Boston Bolivarians, Women’s Fightback Network, along with students, Eastern Bus workers, Brockton Teamsters school bus drivers, Southeast Asian political activists, and current operating engineer and former school bus driver Lendy Ware.

Myls Calvey, a militant leader of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222 representing telephone workers at Verizon, and Paul Kilduff, president of the Metro Boston 100 American Postal Workers Union, extended offers of assistance and concrete solidarity to Local 8751.

The union has issued a series of demands that give a clear idea of the workers’ many legitimate grievances. Besides demanding amnesty for all unionists involved in the Oct. 8 action, most of the demands simply insist that the company honor the current contract.

The drivers are basically fighting to preserve the gains and union rights they have won over decades of militant, unwavering union struggle. The contract that Veolia has with the city says the company must honor the existing contract with the union. Yet it took a major militant march and rally at the company’s offices to get them to sign an agreement in June that they would honor the contract. The company continues to commit numerous violations.

The two sides of the class struggle

Veolia is a huge, multi-billion-dollar, transnational corporation headquartered in France. This monopoly is also attempting to corner the world’s water supply. Veolia provoked a protest of workers in Finland earlier this year. Tommi Lievemaa, a Finnish worker-activist, told Workers World that Veolia unilaterally changed contract terms there, too.

Local 8751 has consistently waged a struggle for economic and social justice — one that includes but hasn’t been limited to the safety of Boston’s school children. The very existence and mission of the union is bound up with the struggle of African-American and other oppressed communities for equal education since the desegregation of Boston’s schools by court-ordered busing in 1974.

Local 8751 was founded and built on rank-and-file militancy, winning union recognition and respect through its willingness to take action. Because of its reputation and the massive involvement of the membership in its actions, there has been no need to suspend bus service since 1991 in order to win decent contracts.

Go to the Facebook page of “Team ­Solidarity – the Voice of United School Bus Union Workers” for updates.


Reasons to challenge Veolia

By Workers World staff
October 16, 2013

I. History of bribery, corruption and embezzlement

Once part of the massive and financially troubled Vivendi Universal empire, in 2002 the company name was changed to Veolia to serve as the umbrella brand for its water, environmental services, energy services and transport divisions. In a further attempt to distance itself from Vivendi’s notoriety, Veolia has established numerous small companies under different names in different countries.

The name changes did not put an end to the company’s long history of graft and corruption. In 2002, one CEO was convicted and fined millions of dollars for fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Corruption, bribery and embezzlement appear to be part of Veolia’s corporate culture. Veolia recently disclosed accounting fraud amounting to $120 million in the U.S. from 2007 to 2010.

2. Contempt for workers and their unions

Veolia has a history of treating its workers badly, often leading to strikes. Veolia likes to impose lower wages and reduce retirement, health care and other benefits; break contracts; enforce lower work standards detrimental to workers and the community; and reduce the workplace environment to levels below safety standards.

Contempt for workers’ safety is just one of the issues leading to strike actions in several cities and countries. The lockout of protesting Boston school bus drivers was the third time Veolia had serious conflicts with workers in 2013, following strikes in Los Angeles and Finland. This global company has a long history of attempted union busting.

In 2012, after two years of failed negotiations, Veolia Transportation workers struck for 11 days in Phoenix and Tempe, Ariz., after the National Labor Relations Board found Veolia was negotiating in bad faith and reneging on previously agreed issues. After failing to get Veolia to seriously negotiate for more than a year, workers in Florida struck for a day. A community campaign there finally forced Veolia out.

Internationally, Veolia’s anti-labor policies have led to strikes in England, Canada and France. In Stockholm, Sweden, Nov. 18 has been declared as a day of protest against the anti-union policies of Connex, which is owned by Veolia Transportation. On Sept. 27, Connex fired a leader of a Swedish Union of Service and Communication Employees (SEKO) local for publicly criticizing the company’s poor safety and working conditions.

3. Profits from privatization of water

Veolia is the world’s largest water privatization business, infamous globally for profiting at the expense of the environment and the public. Worldwide consumers of Veolia’s privatized water have experienced high prices, poor service, limited oversight and the discouragement of water conservation efforts in their communities.

Veolia has cost numerous municipalities millions of dollars in the cleanup of wastewater and untreated sewage dumped illegally into waterways; in damage to water treatment plants as a result of neglect; in injuries to workers; and in the unfair denial of pensions and other benefits. Veolia has been sued for breaking state contracts and overcharging residents. Globally, managers at Veolia-controlled plants have been charged with corruption, bribery, embezzlement, kickbacks and falsifying reports.

4. Environmental destruction

Veolia has an extensive history of questionable environmental practices. In Indianapolis, the company’s lack of safeguards led to a “boil water” advisory for more than a million people, forcing local businesses to close and school to be canceled for 40,000 students. In Kentucky, Veolia’s cost-cutting led to diesel contamination of the water supply, after the company deemed that the equipment to remove the fuel was too expensive to operate.

In Illinois, a Veolia subsidiary operating a hazardous waste incinerator for more than 10 years was fined more than $3 million for small explosions that released toxic chemicals, including carcinogenic dioxins, into the air. In Ohio, a Veolia Environmental Services plant housing several 200,000-gallon chemical tanks exploded in 2009, injuring workers and damaging more than a dozen homes.

Veolia Energy currently manages wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and oil. This highly toxic byproduct of fracking contains carcinogenic chemicals and has been found to be radioactive. Given Veolia’s track record, its plan to discharge some of the water back to local waterways should be cause for considerable concern.

Veolia’s privatization in Puerto Rico was considered a world-class consumer disaster. The British Environmental Agency listed Veolia as the second worst polluter in Britain. From Africa to Latin America and Asia to Eastern Europe, Veolia’s drive to privatize water has left a trail of debt, destruction and growing opposition.

5. Profits from Israeli occupation of Palestine

Veolia has operated bus lines through the occupied West Bank of Palestine, connecting illegal settlements to Israel. The Veolia buses use roads built on land stolen from Palestinians, while servicing only Israeli settlers.

While global pressure forced Veolia to sell off these bus lines in September, the company still operates light-rail services to illegal Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, and owns and operates the Tovlan landfill in the West Bank, where it dumps refuse from Israeli settlements. Veolia also provides wastewater services to the settlements.

Veolia not only profits from apartheid in Israel. It has the largest commitment of any international company to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. (corporatewatch.org.uk, October 2009)

Global communities dump Veolia

Veolia’s consistent profit-over-­people practices have spawned “Dump Veolia” movements. In Escambia County, Fla., Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1395 assembled a coalition that included the NAACP, the Rainbow Coalition, Occupy Pensacola, churches, bus riders and disabled groups, which succeeded in running Veolia out of town. In Indianapolis, New Orleans, Atlanta and other U.S. cities, as well as in Paris and cities in Belgium, Germany and Romania, communities have taken back their water and transport systems from Veolia and restored public control, improving operations and lowering costs.