Over 1,700 Long Island bus workers won union representation last Friday after the workers launched a strong organizing drive with Teamsters Local 1205. The victory is the result of a hard fight by the workers, the union, and their allies.  The employer, Baumann Bus, was in strong opposition to the union.

The workers—drivers, driver assistants, and mechanics—began organizing in the spring of 2009 and formed organizing committees in their nine different yards.  The workers’ reasons for wanting a union were strong: they were not paid for the hours worked, were spending a large portion of their personal paychecks on health care, and experienced degrading workplace conditions.  When the employers got word that the workers were organizing, they started attaching anti-union letters to their paychecks, boldly stating, “Don’t sign up with the Teamsters—tell them we don’t want them around here!”

The workers filed ten unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board before November 1st, 2009.  The charges include: spying on workers who are speaking to one another about the union; telling Latino and Haitian workers that they must be U.S. citizens to vote in the union;

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