Gary school bus drivers union ratifies first agreement
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After unionizing in September, the bus drivers transporting Gary Public Schools students have voted to ratify their first supplemental agreement, resulting in new wage increases and seniority rights.
The supplemental agreement spans three years and touches on immediate wage increases, vision coverage, seniority for overtime and charters and hourly guarantees.
“This agreement is a major step forward for the future of First Student drivers,” said Fadra Davis, a bus driver at First Student and a member of the negotiating committee, in a news release. “To be a part of the very first contract was everything to me, and to hear my fellow co-workers speak highly of the new agreement meant the world to me.”
The 66 workers at First Student were represented by Northwest Indiana’s Teamsters Local 142 and were organized initially by Chicago’s Local 777. They are also covered under the First Student National Master Agreement, which is a collective bargaining agreement.
“Congratulations to the First Student workers in Gary on their first Teamster contract,” Harvey Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 142, said in the release.