Several important cases have been won by Teamsters Local 445 in recent months involving our more than 700 bus drivers.     

     Local 445 Vice-President Cindy Garlinghouse won two week’s backpay for four Wallkill First Student School Bus Drivers recently after they were suspended for taking a bathroom break! At first the company wanted to fire the employees, but Sister Garlinghouse fought that off. She then took their subsequent two-week suspensions to arbitration, where the judge threw them out.

     “We also had any mention of the case removed from their personnel files,” said Sister Garlinghouse.

     In another important case, bus drivers everywhere face the threat of discipline or even termination for using a cell phone while driving.

     But what if the bus driver is wrongly accused?

     Such was the situation for a Dutchess LOOP bus driver who was suspended for two weeks recently after a supervisor drove past his bus and supposedly saw him using his cell phone while driving.

     The Union obtained the detailed cell phone records of the driver, which clearly showed he had made a phone call just before starting work, and a phone call on his regularly scheduled break, but no phone call at the time of the alleged incident. After Business Agent Jerry Ebert threatened court arbitration to settle the case, management relented and paid the driver the two weeks’ backpay.

     “Bus drivers are very vulnerable to these kinds of situations where they are falsely accused,” said Brother Huff.

     Last year Brother Huff won a case involving a Valley Central First Student School Bus employee whom the school district demanded be fired after a student complained about her. The Union successfully argued that, even though the school district demanded the termination, that the employee was contractually protected from firing except for “Just Cause.” The arbitrator ruled that the reason the employee was fired was not serious enough to warrant a termination.

     “This is important, because we never want to give any school district or municipality the power to fire one of our members without due process and a legal hearing,” said Brother Huff.

     Local 445 President Barry Russell won an important case for bus drivers everywhere last year when a West Point Akima bus driver was reinstated with a large backpay award. The driver had been fired for clipping his bus on a street sign at the Academy. Brother Russell was able to prove that the dangerously close position of the sign to the road had been raised during a safety meeting by our shop steward, and the company did not act on the warning. “This proves the importance of taking diligent notes during all safety meetings, said Brother Russell.

     “Bus drivers face many complex challenges and issues, and it’s very important to stay vigilant,” said Brother Huff.