Pass or Fail: Does FirstGroup’s US Record Make the Grade?
UK-based FirstGroup seeks to expand its version of “US-style” yellow school bus service in the United Kingdom
A DVD released this month by the Driving Up Standards Together campaign shows how FirstGroup’s US school bus subsidiary, First Student has often failed to meet safety and performance standards as it has expanded its US student transportation business.
First Student has been charged performance penalties in many US communities for these failings and was recently fired by one US school district over such issues.
The DVD also shows how First Student has developed a poor reputation among many of its US bus workers around issues of training, labour conditions, and staff turnover.
The centerpiece of the DVD is a visit by a UK Parliamentary delegation to the United States.
The delegation included Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, Brian Donohoe MP for Ayshire Central and John Biggs, member of the Greater London Assembly for East London.
The delegation received first hand accounts from First Student drivers of students being endangered because the company failed to adequate train drivers. The company’s high staff turnover – 30 percent in 2004 – and driver shortage problems, often caused by poor wages, high heath insurance charges and frequently no sick or holiday pay, have affected both service and safety.
Drivers who’ve sought to improve working conditions by forming a union have met stiff resistance from First. First Student management has conducted an aggressive anti-union campaign, with many drivers fearing discipline or sacking if they support unionisation.
First Group is seeking to introduce on a grand scale what it describes as US-style yellow school buses operations to the United Kingdom. Currently, FirstGroup operates schemes in nine areas in the United Kingdom and there are other schemes run by public authorities.
In fact, seventy percent of US yellow bus school transportation schemes are carried out by public authorities, not private for profit companies.
The DVD is being distributed at the Labour Party Spring Conference in Blackpool this weekend. In addition to the DVD, Labour Party members will also receive information about FirstGroup’s U.K. record. South Yorkshire’s Passenger Transport Authority went as far as passing a vote of no confidence in FirstGroup after complaints about quality of service and high fares increases.
Every single pay ballot organised this last year by the Transport and General Workers Union at First led to strikes, whereas disputes at other bus employers were settled before industrial action.
Graham Stevenson, the T & G National Organiser for Transport said, “Whilst robust relations do exist elsewhere, it seems that most employers in the industry have learnt that respect for the workforce and attention to building good terms and conditions are all good for business. We would certainly welcome any initiative from FirstGroup, at the highest level in the company, toward resolving the current state of disputes.”
The T & G is a partner with two North American unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters Union in the Driving Up Standards Together Campaign. The T & G has been vocal in its concern for the double standards First has applied to union recognition in the US.
“It’s about time FirstGroup learned to work with not against unions and, by remaining neutral in recognition ballots, to genuinely respect the desires of its workforce to make Yellow Buses a better thing for all,” said Stevenson.
Want a copy of the full DVD? Email us at info@DrivingUpStandards.org | 
