NOTE: (Feb 9, 2007) Laidlaw International Inc is to be acquired by FirstGroup. FirstGroup is the parent company of First Student, which operates school buses nationwide (they are buying the competition). Our union has experience dealing with First Student at their San Rafael facility - we are not impressed with how they treat their employees. Here is a link to "First Student Watch" an organization that monitors First Student.
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Solidarity Letter for our Struggle with First Student from the Boston
School Bus Drivers Union (United Steel Workers)! - pdf fileWhat is Laidlaw?
Laidlaw International Inc is a gargantuan publicly traded company based in Canada. They have operated tour bus companies (they own Greyhound), ambulance services, para-trasit companies and other types of transportation services. Laidlaw also has operated landfills and hazardous waste incinerators among many other activities. So if you thought they were some small time school bus operation; you were dead wrong. Laidlaw buys and sells companies on a regular basis; one of their specialties is privatization, many times at the expense of the workers. The list of links below represents a small general sampling of some of the information about Laidlaw. Hopefully, it should serve to paint a larger picture of what this company is all about.
