Everett bus drivers seek community support

With a strike authorization in their back pocket, Teamster bus drivers are ready to settle a fair contract 

EVERETT, WA (October 6, 2025) — Bus Drivers in the Everett School District are locked in contentious negotiations for a new contract after their previous collective bargaining agreement expired over the summer. After month of negotiations with Durham School Services, a company contracted by the school district, the 175 drivers have authorized a strike should the employer continue to stonewall at the table, per Teamsters Local 38, the workers’ union.

The bus drivers’ contract demands aren’t extreme. They want wages in line with other districts — especially important as not all drivers get 40 hours of work a week — and improvements to their healthcare benefits. Right now, many of the drivers in this bargaining unit are using Apple Care, per the union, meaning tax payers are subsidizing the company’s unwillingness to provide adequate benefits. Also at issue is a company practice for health screenings that forces drivers to jump through unnecessary hoops, sometimes leaving drivers unable to work or forced to pay for procedures out of pocket to be reinstated, despite already being medically cleared by a doctor. The union reports that past practice has been for the company to keep drivers whole during this administrative back-and-forth, but Durham has recently gone back on that precedent.

The bus drivers’ previous contract expired July 31, and the workers could have gone on strike August 1. But they’ve held out and tried to continue negotiations with Durham instead, doing everything in their power to avoid a strike and the disruption it would cause for the families they serve. Monday through Friday, parents put their kids on school busses, trusting the drivers to safely transport their children. Drivers don’t take the trust placed in them for granted.

Bus drivers holding an informational picket last week. Photo: Teamsters

“Kids are our most precious cargo,” said Pete Lamb, Teamsters Local 38 President. Out of respect for the community, drivers have tried to reach a contract agreement at the bargaining table.

But Durham hasn’t come to the table with the same sense of urgency, instead often refusing to bargain in good faith throughout nine bargaining sessions, per the union.

“They’ve made a mockery of the process,” said Lamb, citing a pattern of surface bargaining and even contract violation, resulting in Teamsters 38 filing a unfair labor practice against the employer. The union and Durham last met for negotiations on September 24.

The company’s reluctance to get serious about negotiating key items like healthcare is particularly confusing, per Lamb, because a recently passed state law will require Durham to improve it’s benefit offerings anyway in order to secure a new contact with the Everett School District when the current agreement expires in 2027.

For the drivers, Durham’s priority in negotiations appears to be about maximizing profit, not ensuring quality transportation for students,

“They’re playing games with workers’ livelihoods, and ultimately paying games with public school families,” said Lamb.

Despite challenges at the table, Teamsters 38 is confident they can reach a deal if Durham gets serious and bargains in good faith.

“We are fully prepared to go 24 hours straight to get a deal, if that’s what it takes,” said Lamb. Negotiations are set to resume October 15. If not agreement is reached, drivers may be forced to make the difficult decision to strike.

In the meantime, Teamster bus drivers are drumming up support in the community, and calling on the Everett School District to use it’s position to pressure it’s contractee, Durham, to settle a fair contract. Drivers held an info picket last week, and flooded the school board meeting. And they’re asking supporters to call the school district office at (425) 385-4000 and encourage Superintendent Dr. Ian B. Saltzman to urge Durham do the right thing and settle a contract with the bus drivers.