MV Transportation Withholds Taxpayer Funds Rightly Owed to Division 422 Employees
In March 2020, over one hundred Teamsters Local 727 brothers and sisters who work as paratransit drivers and aides for MV Transportation Division 422 found themselves out of work when schools were closed as a preventative measure taken to combat the spread of COVID-19. Practically overnight, these hardworking service workers, responsible each day for safely bringing disabled children to school and back home throughout the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs, were left to fend for themselves by their greedy employer, MV Transportation, who refused to provide any assistance during possibly the direst time in their lives.
Teamsters Local 727 immediately began to fight for the rights of these members and demanded that that the company make every furloughed member whole for any lost wages. In furtherance of that demand, the Union has filed, and is processing, multiple grievances, extensive information requests, and multiple labor charges against the company. As a result of the Union’s persistence, representatives of MV finally disclosed to the Union that CPS had sent funding to the company to cover the days of the 2019-2020 school year that had been missed due to the COVID-19 school closures. This was news to the Union, as MV had formerly told Local 727 that CPS was not providing the company with any funding or given any direction as to whether they were going to send funding at all. When MV finally disclosed to the Union that they had in fact received funding from CPS, it was the Union’s understanding that these funds were to be used to compensate the drivers and attendants who had been directly affected by the closures and were unable to complete the school year.
During a call between the Union and MV Transportation management held on August 27, MV shockingly stated that, to date, they had failed to distribute any of these funds to the drivers and attendants that it was meant to assist. MV has apparently padded their own pockets with tax payer’s money meant for working people in Chicago. In response, Local 727 has filed a grievance over the matter and has sent a letter to the CEO and several other administrative and legal members of CPS and the City of Chicago, as well as to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, to inform them of MV’s disgraceful behavior.
“This heinous act will not be tolerated by the Union or by any of our members. MV Transportation will be held accountable for their actions and we demand that these funds be immediately distributed to all Division 422 members, with interest, in order to fully rectify this,” said John Coli, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of Local 727.
Questions or concerns should be directed to Business Agent David Glass at (847) 696-7500.
Nothing in this article should be read as the union’s waiver of any legal argument, position or grievance(s), or as a waiver of any rights, arguments, or defenses under any contract, collective bargaining agreement, or applicable law. The union does not forfeit its right to make any and all supplemental arguments.
Category: PARATRANSIT, Union News
