School-Bus Drivers Walk Off Job in Boston

They're being monitored and tracked.

http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/labor_law/meetings/2011/ac2011/155.authcheckdam.pdf

 

In this day and age most professional drivers are monitored. It's good policy
and good use of technology.

 

Seriously, why is it that UPS and FedEx drivers can live with being tracked but bus drivers can't?

 

Sure. But, does that change their "working conditions"?

To me, a change in working conditions means they would have to work harder, or longer. Or, something has changed that makes their job less comfortable. If they removed the air conditioning, or installed a less comfortable seat, then the conditions have changed.

That the company has a new means of tracking their performance doesn't mean they have to work any better.

 

They won't be able to take the buses over to Suffolk Downs to catch the
daily double during down time.

 

The NLRB probably has a different interpretation.

I'm pretty sure the union agreed to the GPS tracking in the contract.

Bottom line, this is a bunch of local bus drivers who got pissed off about the way things were playing out at the beginning of a school year and decided (wrongly) that it was in their interest to go on a wildcat strike. It was dumb. Whatever issues they had should have been handled through the grievance process. Contracts mean something.

 

From what I was gathering from the stories, they don't object to the GPS because of parent monitoring, they're objecting to the GPS because it's mapping out the routes for them, and not doing a very good job in doing so. It's making their routes longer, and, the company is not paying them for the extra time.

 

This begs the obvious question... What are you doing that you don't want tracked? That's more than a bit troubling when you're talking about people who drive children to school.

 

Maybe their semi pro football players and have practice in down time.

 

Sending an email?

 

How the fuck does it affect their working conditions?

Unless "I'm afraid I'll get caught on my daily stop at the bar" falls under "affects its employees' working conditions."

 

They're using the GPS to set routes, rather than common sense. The GPS routes are taking the drivers longer, and the company is refusing to pay them for the extra time.