(Canada) Bus drivers to vote again (on joining Teamsters)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.intelligencer.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=623643&catname=Local+News&classif=News+Live

Bus drivers to vote again

By Jeremy Ashley The Intelligencer
Local News - Monday, July 23, 2007 Updated @ 5:56:41 PM

Bus drivers working for Parkhurst Transportation will have another shot at becoming Teamsters this fall.

A vote supervised by the Ontario Labour Relations Board was held last month asking the 55 bus operators currently employed by the company if they would like to be represented by Teamsters Local Union 91. The local union chapter has already amassed close to 200 bus drivers from a half-dozen other local companies in past months.

Of those Parkhurst drivers eligible to vote, 33 cast ballots opposed to joining the union, while 16 voted in favour — establishing Parkhurst Transportation Ltd. as the first local company to reject the union’s offer.

In the wake of the vote, however, the Teamsters filed an unfair labour complaint with the labour relations board alleging the company violated several restrictions — including distributing letters warning drivers about the “consequences” of joining a union, according to Ian Cobb, a Parkhurst driver who co-ordinated the Teamster’s effort.

In a hearing last week, the Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled Parkhurst Transportation violated “four labour practices,” and ordered another vote be held in the fall, when the bus operators return to work, said Cobb.

When contacted by The Intelligencer for comment, Jim Parkhurst — whose father Al founded the company more than 50 years ago — declined to comment, referring all calls from the media to the company’s lawyer, Belleville-based attorney Terrence Whyte. Whyte was unavailable for comment Monday.

FULL story at link.