OPINION: Durham School Services to Teamsters: Let the bus drivers vote

We at Durham School Services understand this school year has been a struggle from Day One — from the ongoing shortage of drivers to epic weather events and now to an unfortunate labor strike that has been hard on parents, students, school administrators and our employees. We share the community’s desire to see normal operations resume as safely and quickly as possible and we thank the public for its continued patience.

The ongoing Teamsters strike has created an especially difficult challenge for the Mat-Su community. Fortunately, the situation improves a bit each day as partial bus service is being restored to the school district as some employees choose to return to work. We appreciate these employees and welcome them back with open arms.

That said, something has to give.

This strike can’t go on forever with no end in sight. This is why we are taking the unusual step of publicly asking Teamsters members to review our latest and best offer on our Facebook page. We are confident that our offer is a fair and competitive one that meets many of the union’s stated demands.

Equally important, we believe fairness demands that Teamsters leadership provide the union’s members with a formal vote to see if a majority of the union’s members would accept our last, best offer. Additionally, we have also asked for a mediator to be appointed to assist in ongoing negotiations but, unfortunately, the union has refused that request as well.

Understandably, our employees have questions about their options when deciding to work or strike. We share here what the options are for employees looking to return to work.

• First, every employee has a protected right to strike. We respect the decision of every employee, whether currently on strike or not, to remain on strike or join the growing number choosing to return to work. We respect our employees first as human beings with families and we understand the obligations that come with those responsibilities.

• Second, any striking employee who wants to return to work may do so at any time without fear of repercussions. Durham is ready to assign routes and get drivers back on the job. Many drivers have already made this decision.

• Third, it is most important for drivers and the community to know that employees will not be terminated by Durham whether they remain on strike or decide to cross the picket line and come to work. We will not terminate the employment of any employee engaging in protected activity.

Every Durham employee must make his or her own decisions about whether to strike and how to achieve a healthy work-life balance. We will not pressure anyone. We stand on our current last, best and final offer to the Teamsters and we remain hopeful a mutual labor agreement can be reached. The proposed, new increases in wages and paid time off are generous and competitive and align with both our Wasilla business model and the dynamics of the regional economy, rather than reflecting some arbitrary union economic model that might make sense in much larger cities or populations.

Finally, we again thank the members of the Mat-Su community for their patience as we wait for the next steps to materialize. It is a privilege to serve you and we look forward to resuming full service as soon as possible.

Will Zimmerman is region manager for Durham School Services.

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