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Admin
Administrator
USA
1662 Posts |
 Posted - 03/02/2004 : 10:23:21 AM
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Mar 02, 2004 - BARBERTON, Ohio — A state agency ruled that bus drivers for Barberton City Schools were not faced with an imminent danger on Feb. 3, when they refused to drive because of icy road conditions.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the 14 drivers, who have already been docked a day’s pay, had sought an opinion on their case from the labor and worker safety division of the Ohio Department of Commerce. The drivers cited a state worker safety law in defending their refusal to work on a day when they said the city’s hilly roads were slick and hazardous to them and their passengers.
However, the agency said in its ruling that other local school districts operated their buses safely on Feb. 3 under the same weather conditions. Additionally, officials for the Barberton district reportedly drove city roads that day and deemed them passable.
The district will suspend the drivers two days without pay and put disciplinary letters in their files.
A director for the Ohio Association of Public School Employees, which represents the drivers, said he does not believe the state agency had all the facts and is looking into appealing the decision.
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YardBird
Advanced Member
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 03/02/2004 : 3:18:12 PM
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Well...I guess sometimes ya gotta eat it, too...
Can't win 'em all. |
Sure! I'll pick your kid up closer to the house... Widen your front door!
"I LOOOOOVE MY UNION!" |
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gwfastsr
Advanced Member
USA
275 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2004 : 01:59:36 AM
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| I AM NEW TO THE FORUM. I JOINED BECAUSE I AM WRITING A BOOK THAT WILL BE DEDICATED TO SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS AND THIER PROBLEMS. THE FORUM GIVES ME INFORMATION ON PROBLEMS OUTSIDE OUR AREA. I LIVE IN SPRINGFIELD TENNESSEE. IT'S ABOUT 30 MILES NORTH OF NASHVILLE TENNESSEE. THIS PROBLEM IS COMMON TO OUR AREA. THE SETTING IS SORT OF COUNTRY 2 MILES OUT OF OUR SMALL TOWNS. WITH HILLS AND VALLEYS THERE ARE PLACES WHERE ONE ROAD WILL BE PASSABLE AND A COUPLE OF MILES DOWN THE ROAD IT'S NOT. I SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR SITUATION. WE DEAL WITH SNOW AND RAIN THAT CAN CRIPPLE SOME AREAS AND OTHER AREAS ARE NOT EVEN TOUCHED. IT IS A FINE LINE AND A SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE A DECISION AS TO THE SAFETY OF THE CHILDREN. THE BEST OF LUCK TO ALL CONCERNED. |
KEEP YOUR WHEELS ON THE ROAD AND YOUR PASSENGERS SAFE. AND MAY THE GOOD LORD BE WITH ALL OF YOU. |
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JK
Top Member
USA
7307 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2004 : 05:53:04 AM
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I'm sad that so few here have weighed in on this issue. Is it the opinion of some that the bus drivers did something they had no authority to do? 
I would expect better from my fellows, much better. Those competent drivers are being scapegoated and hardly a whimper from this board. From the story: "Bus drivers and union leaders have received many letters and phone calls from residents and parents who supported the drivers' decision.
Has anyone here done something to support their fellow school bus drivers in Ohio?
Click Here for the the Ohio Association of Public School Employees website.
Click Here for the story, Ruling goes against Barberton bus drivers. Here's the comment I sent to Katie Byard, the Beacon Journal staff writer of these stories. For those interested use any part of this comment to send your own comment:
Email to kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com, Wednesday, March 03, 2004 9:30 AM
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PLEASE NOTE: If possible, please pass this comment on to the Ohio Association of Public School Employees.
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Concerning your most recent story, "Ruling goes against Barberton bus drivers," the story states that, "A state agency ruled that bus drivers for Barberton City Schools were not faced with an imminent danger on Feb. 3, when they refused to drive because of icy road conditions."
Incredibly odd statement. It can be likewise said that as long a kid keeps a loaded weapon in his or her backpack, no one is technically in imminent danger. So why ban weapons from school grounds?
The employees did not have to be in so-called imminent danger to refuse an order they believed was an unsafe directive. The most frequently applied and universally recognized exception to refusing a perceived unsafe directive, "is applicable where obeying the order might endanger the employees health or safety or the health or safety of others. See, generally, Elkouri and Elkouri, How Arbitration Works (Fifth Ed.), pp. 977-987; A.M. Castle & Co., 41 LA 666 (Semblower, 1963). ... Whether or not the modification actually created an unsafe condition for the young student [or students, in this situation] is of no moment. The elements of the rule were established - a genuine and reasonable belief based on objective factors." --Are unions really needed in the public workplace? ( http://www.geocities.com/2safeschools/ata0008.htm )
What happened with the Ohio Department of Commerce would seem to intentionally subvert the authority of school bus drivers to determine their own limits to drive school bus - that the employer is somehow the only one capable and responsible for determining that.
The repercussions are incredible. How now can it be claimed a bus driver should know when they are too sick to drive, that medication is causing too much interference with their driving or that the school bus is too out-of-control to proceed? None of these anomalies create an imminent danger in themselves since it can be shown that bus drivers in other areas drive successfully under these influences.
What happened here appears the agency may have been weighing between supporting the bus drivers authority - under the bus drivers own state training, license responsibilities and self-known skills - v/s the thought that other bus drivers in other districts might use the finding to refuse to drive when conditions were perceived serious enough for them to warrant such an action.
A political and controlling finding, not a factual one, in my opinion - this irresponsible behavior from the very agency that is supposed to be protecting workers.
Where is the Ohio's Pupil Transportation Service response to this issue? Why are they so silent over this issue?
No doubt, none what-so-ever now, that every smart personal injury attorney in the area has tucked these stories away. Any future incident involving a school bus in that district is now under immediate suspicion of untrained drivers behind the wheel of some of those buses or drivers forced to drive unsafe buses or in unsafe conditions. That employer is vulnerable beyond the norm to litigation over any future injury or event on those buses.
The drivers have an escape. "They were ordered to drive," is now a valid and responsible action for bus drivers in that school district and in every school district in Ohio, regardless of what the drivers skills or training might include or lack.
The Barberton Superintendent's behavior, concerning this one event, will likely come back to haunt that school district. (jk)
Click Here for story, Are unions really needed in the public workplace?
http://www.geocities.com/2safeschools/ata0008.htm
Note that an ongoing poll by 2safeschools (currently 788 participants) gave the following response to the #1 reason school bus drivers quit:
Maltreatment - including lack of employer or school staff support.
479 votes (61%)
Poor pay or better pay elsewhere.
237 votes (30%)
retirement or health reasons.
19 votes (2%)
Moved to another community.
7 votes (1%)
other reasons.
46 votes (6%)
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Edited by - JK on 03/03/2004 1:31:50 PM |
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rain
Active Member
USA
15 Posts |
Posted - 03/03/2004 : 9:48:11 PM
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| WHO'S THE ONE THE FINGER IS GOING TO BE POINTED AT, WHEN A BUS LOAD OF STUDENTS GETS INTO A ACCIDENT? THE BUS DRIVER!EACH SCHOOL DISCRICT HAS DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROADS TO DEAL WITH.FOR INSTANCE.CITY SCHOOLS ROADS MAYBE FINE AS OPPOSED TO THE RUAL SCHOOLS HAVE A LOT OF DIRT AND HILLY ROADS TO TEND WITH,AS WELL AS BLACK ICE..IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO M-O-N-E-Y I GUESS |
timothy hopkins#43 |
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State agency rules against bus drivers
