Election indecisive for District 300 bus drivers

In a bout between two union heavyweights, the Teamsters union Wednesday won an indecisive victory in its effort to represent more than 200 bus drivers in the northern Fox Valley.

The Teamsters got the most votes in Wednesday's union election for bus drivers in Community Unit District 300, labor officials said.

The union, which represents about 1.4 million workers across the country, received 110 votes, while the Illinois Education Association got 64 votes, and 65 employees voted for no union, according labor officials.

Though the Teamsters were clearly the highest vote-getter, the unions and District 300's transportation contractor said bus drivers will have to vote in a runoff election.

It was not clear Wednesday what the second choice on the runoff ballot would be: the Illinois Education Association or no union.

At least one and as many as six votes have been challenged; the outcome of the challenges could determine whether the Illinois Education Association will get a second chance in a runoff election, labor officials said.

One option will definitely be on the ballot: the Teamsters, who said while Wednesday's election wasn't an outright victory, they had little doubt they would ultimately prevail.

"We're very confident because the employees voted for the Teamsters nearly two to one," said Dominic Romanazzi, president of Teamsters Local 330. "They made it clear that they desire Teamsters representation."

The bus drivers have been without a union since District 300 privatized its transportation contract in 2007. They have complained of inadequate health insurance benefits, unsafe routes and a lack of respect.

The teacher's union represented drivers before the district privatized transportation and had hoped to benefit from negotiations with Durham School Services, the transportation contractor.

But after four months of bargaining, those negotiations have failed to produce a contract.

The head of the local arm of the Illinois Education Association this week accused Downers Grove-based Durham of holding up negotiations.

"Durham isn't really bargaining in good faith," said Diane Petersen, UniServ director for Region 25. "We kind of expected that was going to happen."

The teacher's union filed a grievance against Durham early this year, alleging it refused to bargain with the Illinois Education Association.

The Teamsters and their supporters accused the teacher's union of using the grievance to delay a union election, which the teacher's union denied.

A spokeswoman for the bus contractor said this week Durham has been working toward a settlement.

"We continue to bargain with the IEA in good faith in hopes of reaching an agreement," Durham spokeswoman Laura Osheaski said.

A decision on the challenged votes could come within the next two weeks, Romanazzi said.