Worker Rights Abuses Continue in FirstGroup's U.S. Operations, Report Finds

WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FirstGroup plc

(LONDON: FGP) violated its own policy of neutrality toward unions and continues its pattern of worker rights abuses in the U.S., according to reports released Monday by a European labor delegation.

The findings precede shareholder consideration of the $3.6 billion FirstGroup takeover of Laidlaw International, Inc. at meetings on April 20 in Naperville, Illinois and Aberdeen Scotland.

Representatives of Dutch Union FNV Bondgenoten and the British Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) toured First Student worksites and met with workers in the Walkill, New York area April 10-13. FirstGroup, also seeking an acquisition in mainland Europe, is among the bidders for a majority stake of Dutch government-owned transport provider Connexxion. FNV Bondgenoten represents transport workers at Connexxion.

"These women and men have been forced to endure the company's anti-union message in one-on-one and full-group meetings with their managers," said Brigitta Paas, a member of the board of International and European Transport Workers Federations and FNV Bondgenoten's National Coordinator for Coaches. "They have suffered not-so-subtle threats that their facilities might close if they vote for a union. Still they persevere in hopes of fairness and justice in their workplace."

Paas was joined by fellow FNV Bondgenoten leaders Dick Knutzen and Maarten Sweep, and Lew May, Chair of the British T&G 90,000-member National Passenger Trade Group. Knutzen also serves as President of the Connexxion Works Council; Sweep is President of the Novio Works Council. The Transport & General Workers Union represents 24,000 FirstGroup workers in the U.K. The delegation pledged to report its findings to union membership in the Netherlands and the U.K. and to raise questions about the U.S. operations with FirstGroup management.

The delegation's findings were buttressed by a new report from a trio of international human and labor rights experts entitled "FirstGroup's Neutrality Policy: Failed Implementation." The report evaluates the company's efforts to enforce its own internal policy of neutrality toward unions based on the company's materials and management presentations to workers engaged in organizing campaigns.

Authors John Logan, of the London School of Economics; Lance Compa, Cornell University professor and noted international labor and human rights attorney; and Fred Feinstein, former general counsel to the National Labor Relations Board found that the company's behavior was not neutral, despite the company's 2006 pledge to cease anti-union activity in its U.S. operations. Said Logan: "First Student's activities are no less damaging to the free choice of its employees and are intended to have the same effect -- to create an atmosphere of fear and distrust at the workplace and to prevent employees from forming a union."

The report is available for download at the following web address: http://org.teamster.org/firststudent/firstgroupneutralitypolicy.pdf

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represent 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States and Canada, including more than 11,000 workers employed by Laidlaw and FirstGroup.