Summerville Bus Drivers Authorize Strike

School bus drivers and monitors who transport students for Durham School Services in Summerville’s Dorchester School District Two have voted 77-0 to authorize a strike.

The Durham School Services employees are members of Teamsters Local 509, and unionized last year. Strike authorization does not mean a strike is imminent, but that a strike is now a possibility unless negotiations with Durham School Services proceed. The union claims stalled negotiations between it and the company. 

The drivers and monitors, members of Teamsters Local 509, join .

While the employees are not directly employed by Dorchester Two, the district is following the incident closely. According to spokeswoman Pat Raynor, the district has a "plan of action" in the contract with Durham, but she said she was unsure of the exact policy.

Raynor said the district found out about the strike authorization through the media, and the union has not talked to the district. 

According to a statement by Teamsters 509, the workers are seeking a "fair contract from Durham that values their hard work and secures decent and safe working conditions in transporting area school children."

“We are having big, unanimous votes, which show the kind of treatment that these workers are getting from the company,” said L.D. Fletcher, President of Local 509. “They want to be treated with respect.”

“We want to be treated fairly and to work in an environment that is not hostile to us,” said Annette Hill, a driver. “We care about the children we transport.”

Teamsters Local 509 and the workers have met with Durham management 35 times since July over contract negotiations, according to the union.

There are about 620 Teamsters Local 509 members at Durham in Charleston, Summerville and Beaufort. Beaufort Durham drivers are expected to take a strike authorization vote soon. 

Durham is a subsidiary of National Express Group, a profitable multinational corporation based in the United Kingdom and the second-largest provider of student transportation services in the United States.