Anchorage, Alaska (December 2, 2004)<\/b> \u2013 A union decertification election has removed Teamsters Union Local 959 as the \u201cexclusive bargaining representative\u201d of more than 200 Anchorage-area school bus drivers and attendants. The victory comes after the employees successfully challenged the results of a previous union decertification election in which Teamsters officials narrowly prevailed when company officials unfairly limited employees\u2019 rights to speak out against union representation. The workers decertified the union by a 105-83 vote.<\/p>\n
The most recent decertification election was delayed by a desperate appeal by union officials. The drivers\u2019 employer, First Student, Inc., provides school bus services to the Anchorage School District.<\/p>\n
With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, school bus driver Jayne Larrassey filed objections to the May 2004 decertification election in which the Teamsters union maintained its status as the workers\u2019 monopoly representative after company officials stifled worker free speech. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19 office ordered a new election in July, but union officials appealed the decision to the full NLRB in Washington, delaying the election. However, a three-member panel of the NLRB ordered in November that results from the tainted union decertification election be set aside and that a new election be held because of the actions of company officials.<\/p>\n
The federal labor agency\u2019s order affirmed the findings in a report issued by a hearing officer of the NLRB\u2019s Region 19 office. That report found \u201cserious and extensive\u201d company interference by enforcing an \u201coverly broad rule\u201d limiting employees\u2019 rights to distribute pro-decertification literature leading up to the election.<\/p>\n
The objections originated when Larrassey exercised her right to oppose the union hierarchy by distributing flyers in the company parking lot promoting the decertification of the Teamsters union as the drivers\u2019 monopoly bargaining agent. However, union activists quickly seized the flyers from the vehicles and turned them over to the union steward, who then reported Larrassey to company officials.<\/p>\n
Larrassey was then given a \u201cverbal warning\u201d by a company official and told that any further attempt to circulate pro-decertification literature would result in disciplinary action. Larrassey was reprimanded a second time on the day of the election when she simply stood in a non-work area and reminded people to vote.<\/p>\n