Hinds County Bus Driver Strike Is On
As expected, First Student bus drivers in Hinds County went on strike this morning. Hinds County did offer these plans for the short-term and said that they do have an emergency plan, but that is not in place at this time.
WAPT has a good bit of information on this. Hinds County is reporting that more than half the bus drivers did show up for work this morning. While I believe the bus drivers on strike are in the wrong, most of my disappointment is with the local union, Teamsters Local 891. The union is the one feeding the information to the drivers. The union is the one who called the strike before their scheduled meeting with First Student on Friday. The union is the one blaming the Hinds County school district even though they are not involved in the talks.
This is the fourth year of a four-year contract with First Student for the county. Think they will renew? First Student has pretty much given the Teamsters free reign to organize drivers throughout the country and this is what they get. I am sure Hinds County can get bus drivers who will not go on strike and put them in this situation again.
