Revved Up

Georgia bus drivers step on the gas, recruiting new members to energize their local.

Photo by Caroline Joe

Linda Lefebvre, Dawn Lands, and Stacy Robinson have become driving forces in Haralson County.

After years of paying dues to a competing organization--and seeing nothing for their money--the three bus drivers joined the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) in June.

Since then, they have energized their once inactive local, increasing ESP membership from three members to more than 50. The three activists, who serve as the new vice president, treasurer, and secretary of the wall-to-wall Association, have set out to recruit additional ESP and teacher members through traditional relational organizing.

Lands, the new treasurer, knows all about the power that comes with GAE membership. Her grandmother, a retired school teacher, served as president of the Haralson County Association of Educators (HCAE) back when the local counted nearly 200 members. So when Lands' high school sociology teacher encouraged her to join HCAE, she knew what to do.

"I talked to my grandmother and she said it would be one of the best decisions I could make," she says. "I know the Association is there. I have somebody I can call if I need something, and it makes my job easier for me."

Like Lands, most drivers in this small rural school district haven't had easy jobs, says UniServ Director Rachel Blankenship. Three years ago a parent attacked a driver, and then last year a student shot another. A third driver was injured this year when two students began fighting on the bus. Meanwhile, the school system denied another driver medical leave to receive chemotherapy treatments.

Since joining GAE, though, local leaders have received the training they need to advocate for their members and resolve disputes with the school system. Two of the drivers even attended GAE's TEAM ESP Leadership Academy, an invitation-only training program designed to build local and state ESP leaders.

"They are ready to turn this Association around," says Blankenship. "They want people to join GAE. They want other drivers to know they are wasting their time and their money by belonging to other organizations that don't care."

Membership in GAE gives the drivers a voice on the job, something they didn't have as members of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), says Lefebvre, vice president of HCAE.

During the seven years she belonged to PAGE Lefebvre never met a staff person working on her behalf. But, as a GAE member, "I have somebody to take my concerns to and that means a lot because I never had that before," she says.

Now the drivers are sharing that message with anyone who will listen. They organize training sessions for Association building representatives and travel from school to school talking with potential members.

They targeted new teachers during orientation and ESPs in Haralson and neighboring counties. The local continues to recruit former PAGE members as well. Blankenship says she receives three to four new member applications each day.

The local's efforts have not gone unnoticed. After seeing HCAE's rapid membership growth and newfound activism, GAE tapped the local as part of a statewide living wage campaign.

In a county where the average driver makes $750 a month, the need for a livable wage resonates with members, says Lefebvre.

"We have two full-time drivers filing for bankruptcy. Nearly 80 percent hold a second job. So the living wage will be a welcome program," she says. "Maybe we'll finally be paid for the work that we do."

Members of the local Association have spoken to other school employees and members of the PTA to raise awareness and build community support for the effort. GAE will help Haralson and three other locals organize living wage initiatives and then expand the campaign statewide.

In the meantime, HCAE's leaders hope to capitalize on the energy of their new members through continued community outreach and membership development.

"People have more enthusiasm than I've seen in the four years I've been driving the bus," says Lands. "We finally have some place we can go to get the help we need to make our jobs better."

--Kristen Loschert