May 24, 2023

Stalled negotiations for a first Teamster contract with Local 174 trigger overwhelming vote to call a strike

A group of nearly 150 drivers and technicians providing roughly half the yellow bus service for the Seattle School District (SSD) now sit at the precipice of a work stoppage, after workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike over the weekend. Yellow bus service for SSD had previously been exclusively provided by First Student, until the end of the 2022 school year when SSD chose to award roughly half the work to California-based Zūm. Zūm’s group of newly-hired employees quickly organized with Teamsters Local 174, which already represented workers at First Student, and negotiations for a first contract have been ongoing. Progress has been slow, and with the end of the school year rapidly approaching, workers used this strike vote to make clear to Zūm that they were tired of working without a contract.

The vote was held on Sunday morning, with the Teamster rank-and-file bargaining committee members and contract negotiation team expressing their frustration with the glacial pace of contract negotiations – a pace that has been even more frustrating given that the First Student contract already sets a clear standard for school bus drivers and mechanics in Seattle. Zūm has also steadfastly refused to agree to basic language allowing employees to honor a picket line that is standard in nearly all Teamsters Local 174 contracts. Frustration over all these issues was shared by the workers in attendance, who ultimately voted by a margin of 95% in favor of a strike.

“As these negotiations have dragged on, it has become clear that Zūm made an unrealistically low bid to the Seattle School District to take this work, and they want to pass responsibility for that decision onto their workers rather than themselves,” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks. “These hardworking bus drivers refuse to accept less than they deserve just to help protect Zūm’s bottom line, especially when Zūm executives were the ones who made the poor business decision to underbid this contract. They can either live with that decision, or they can face a strike by their workforce.”

Founded in 1909, Teamsters Local 174 represents 8,600 working men and women in Seattle and the surrounding areas. “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamstersLocal174.