The Randolph school van and bus drivers and monitors are turning the page on nonunion work and starting a new chapter by uniting with SEIU Local 888. The new chapter will cover 48 workers.
The vast majority of them signed union authorization cards, one of the key ways to start a new union. The Randolph School Committee has voted to recognize Local 888 as the exclusive bargaining agent.
“The town needs to increase wages, or it may lose employees” to other communities, said Laine Eustache, a member of the chapter’s organizing committee. “We are among the lowest paid employees of the school district, and we feel that we’re not being treated right,” he added.
Uniting with Local 888 “will be better for everybody,” said Jean Robert Andre, another member of the organizing committee. The other members of the organizing committee are Evens Lezin and Christine Mazzeo.
Randolph workers are also looking for:
• improved benefits,
• bonuses for exceptional attendance,
• compensation for snow days, which are no unpaid.
At a meeting of the new chapter, Local 888 President Tom McKeever welcomed in the new members as they signed union cards. “It’s exciting to be working with you, and to have our union grow in power overall.”
Four other of the town’s bargaining units have already united with Local 888: the cafeteria staff, school maintenance workers, school secretaries and Randoph’s Town Hall and library clerical workers.
The workers have the essential duties of getting many of the town’s children to school safely — which now happens in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rules for such workers can include:
• Van drivers earning a school pupil transport (7D) certificate.
• Bus drivers earning a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and a school bus driver certificate along with permission to transport passengers.
• Passing a criminal offender record (CORI) check.
• Passing a sex offender registry check.
Four other of the town’s bargaining units have already united with Local 888: the cafeteria staff, school maintenance workers, school secretaries and Randoph’s Town Hall and library clerical workers.
For more info on school children’s transportation, see www.mass.gov/doc/school-pupil-transport-7d-manual/download.