A group of school bus drivers from the US are lobbying their employers FirstGroup to end what they call the company's "anti-union tactics". Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union representing thousands of drivers with the firm's subsidiary First Student in the States, have travelled to Aberdeen to address shareholders and executives at its Annual General Meeting. The union claims that some workers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation by company bosses. FirstGroup denies their allegations.
Teamsters representatives will put forward a resolution calling on the firm to adopt a properly-enforced workers' rights policy, which they say they do not
have. They are being supported by members of the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G).
Tommy Campbell, the union's boss, said: "We're going to be protesting in solidarity with the Teamsters. The reason for showing solidarity is that we don't want them badly treated and we want their rights protected. By doing this we are protecting our own rights."
First Student is currently the second largest provider of student transportation in North America with a fleet of about 22,000 yellow school buses.
Parent company FirstGroup is in the process of acquiring US transport giant Laidlaw. The move is expected to increase its global workforce from 74,000 employees to around 120,000.
Teamsters president Jim Hoffa said earlier this week that British companies must insist that their managers in the US "play the game" fairly.
(midlothianadvertiser.co.uk)
