jns131

Sat, Oct 23, 2010 : 9:48 p.m.

Tex? Try sucking it up yourself after 21 years of dedicated service to a job you loved so well. Next time think before you post and then walk in someone elses shoes as you try to move on after a psychological blow such as this one. You don't get over this one so easily. Especially in this economy. Good luck John. Tex? I hope you get a scare like we did. Next time? Think.

Tex Treeder

Wed, Oct 20, 2010 : 9:06 p.m.

"Suck it up and move on" does not mean the same thing as "suck up." "Suck it up" means get over it. I think several people have suggested that John do just that.

L'chaim

Wed, Oct 20, 2010 : 9:53 a.m.

John was unfairly removed from his job; similar to a very selective 'lock-out'; so was I and at least 14 others besides us. We're all looking for other employment, of course. Most of us are now receiving unemployment, but it was a major struggle to get it, because the school district played games with the claims. Some did not receive payments until very recently. The WISD used selective criteria in hiring. That is not something anyone whit a shred of self-respect should "suck up and move on" from. When you are treated unfairly, especially by over-paid public administrators, you should not "suck up." That's a horrible phrase and a terribly self-deprecating thing to do. This is about an injustice, not an inconvenience.

scooter dog

Tue, Oct 19, 2010 : 9:56 a.m.

Its not like its the end of the world,John What happened to you happens each and every day in this world. Your not the first and surely will not be the last. It happened to me at 57,and I was mad as hell,but sucked it up and moved on. If you worked for AAPS for 21 yrs your eligible for 99 weeks of un-employment. Its better than nothing and the $376.00 before taxes ea week comes in handy.

jns131

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:55 a.m.

I am one of those so called no hired back drivers. John is a great driver and great with the children. I have no clue as to why he ended up on the no hire list as I have heard rumors there was one. The black list as we are calling it now. WISD made absolutely sure they went thru our files and made absolutely sure you were virgin clean. Meaning no medical issues, no write ups, no accidents and no out spokeness with the union or the boss man. I do know that some were very close to retirement and these drivers also did not get hired as well. I am not sure why I did not get hired, but after a round robin meeting with the drivers who did not hired? I am of the opinion that WISD is only doing this for the money and to keep those who know how to keep quiet. I also heard that 15 drivers, new ones, quit the first week and that no one is running the show over in transportation. Mine rides a public bus because mine has had run ins with the new drivers. Snootiness, surly and mean statements that should not be said to a child. Mine also says the children are out of control as well. If AATA ran their buses like WISD is running theirs? You can bet there would be no public bus service as we speak. Right now as I feel about WISD? I do not want a job with them nor do I want any association with them. There are three districts looking that are not ISD associated. Good luck John and good luck to all who either got a job somewhere else, like me, PT or still looking.

Top Cat

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:43 a.m.

Sorry about your situation John. You need to move on. Writing OpEd pieces is really not the best way to favorably position yourself for future employment.

Milton Shift

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 6:34 a.m.

greymom, are you comfortable with offering any specifics on what your pay is now, and how much you pay monthly for health benefits? There are others that absurdly claim the pay of Ann Arbor public workers to be excessive, even "luxurious." I wish you the best - I am sorry to see so many good people being forced to pay for the mistakes, and greed, of the rich. Take care.

greymom

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 6:07 a.m.

As true as it is the cuts were so bad that most custodians have had to look for second jobs- we were told if the State took that 3%, that we would get back 3% but instead our total cuts came to about 15% but look and see when our contract is up if they don't try to outsource again. Looking at what the outsourcing companies wanted to do, when we offered the same service they turned us down, so my point is we were giving A2 Schools because service for the buck before they took that 15%- let me say why I say 15%- we took 8% plus an additional 46 cents per hour, plus 3% the state took plus we now pay more for co-pays and our insurance. Plus gave up one or two weeks of vacation, and also between 14-4 of our sick days. Tell me where is the justice?

Milton Shift

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 3:59 a.m.

Or we could do the unthinkable and make the rich pay as much taxes as we do... Warren Buffet famously remarked that he paid half the tax rate of his secretary. And we wonder why we're going bankrupt.

Macabre Sunset

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 11:09 p.m.

Well, based on the decision to picket a public employer rather than look for a new job, I would say the letter-writer is exhibiting poor decision-making skills. The taxpayers were wasting a lot of money on duplicating this service. Some drivers were bound not to find employment with the county. A job is not an entitlement. If you want guaranteed employment, you need to make yourself invaluable. In the meantime, we have to cut public-sector jobs and end those Cadillac benefit and pension plans if we want to remain financially viable as a state and as a country.

Jon Saalberg

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:44 p.m.

@bruceae: Wow, I thought this was about a dedicated bus driver losing his job, and you managed to denigrate the current governor and the President. So if you're bringing it up: the governor did not destroy the tax structure in this state, Engler and his GOP legislature did. Then Engler didn't even stick around to see what his horrible stewardship of the state wrought, and fled the state. The Michigan-based carmakers' made poor product planning choices, which devastated the primary industry in our state, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. Add Bush's utterly inept stewardship of the economy for eight years, and you have the real reasons behind our state's and our country's woes.As for the bus driver - I thought we generally operated on the principle that people are presumed innocent, but I guess when it comes to this situation, people assume the driver is undeserving - sad that people assume the negative instead of the positive about an individual. What does this say about our society as a whole?

stunhsif

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:42 p.m.

@John, If you do have a CDL and a "clean" driving record, the company I work for has been and I believe is hiring drivers. You would probably be qualified to drive a straight truck ( 24 footer), not certain about a 53 footer. We pay a decent wage though the benefits will not be as generous as what you had at AAPS. We are an LTL ( less than truckload) carrier that covers 30 states. You could be a city driver meaning you would be home every night. Ask A2.com for my email address if you are interested.

djacks24

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 8:33 p.m.

"Since the WISD decided to have job fairs and hire off the street they have broken their promise to hire "experienced" Since the WISD decided to have job fairs and hire off the street they have broken their promise to hire "experienced" AAPS, Ypsilanti and Willow Run drivers. How did they break a promise unless they promised to hire "all of the 'experienced' AAPS, Ypsilanti and Willow Run drivers" back?

DonBee

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 8:32 p.m.

John - I am sorry you lost your job in the consolidation. The bus drivers and the custodians took the brunt of the cuts, while the teachers took way less, and the administrators even less. Cutting from the bottom is never a good way to right the ship. Top heavy ships have a tendency to roll over (capsize). @Terry Calhoun - As far as I know Republicans in office in Washtenaw County are few and far between. It was decided inside the county. The Democrats in power have increased spending by 1,400,000,000,000 dollars. Count the zeroes. Each job created based on the last report from the Congressional Budget Office cost about $300,000. Good value for the money? @Chai - I was at several picnics and other events this summer where some drivers were very vocal about getting their jobs back and then forming a union and getting their pay back. I don't know if WISD heard about it or not, but people were very open and vocal. Could this have had an impact on who WISD hired back? I don't know. @Scooter Dog - Please provide the laws that were passed by Engler that gutted employee rights in Michigan? When I look at Tennessee or the Carolinas, I find fewer worker rights than Michigan has. In Texas it is still worse. Where are the jobs - surprise - Texas (including Comerica moving their corporate office from Detroit), Tennessess, and the Carolinas. I would be interested in your take on what was gutted, and how that has helped either employers or workers in the state. All - The vote in a few weeks is critical to our state. We need to pick people who will work TOGETHER, regardless of party to make Michigan a place people what to invest. The blame game will result in 4 more years of high unemployment. You have an opportunity to change the game. I still don't know how I am going to vote, but I do know that I am looking for leaders, not blamers.

djacks24

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 8:27 p.m.

Wow, an out of work public unionized employee calling unfair treatment for what the rest of us in the private sector have to deal with every day - AT WILL EMPLOYMENT. Sorry, the age of entitlement is over. I watched under-performing union workers get protected for years by the unions, and then they wonder why the unions greed and strong arming have either driven out the unions from most corporations or else have driven jobs overseas away from the unions. I guess all those years of union dues didn't do much good?

Tex Treeder

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 7:45 p.m.

I wonder which route or routes John the bus driver worked for AAPS. My kids had a couple of drivers, one of whom was named John. He was about the same age, too.

YpsiLivin

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:36 p.m.

Scooter Dog said: Unless your covered by a union,everyday workers stand to lose with the engler types. John knows this first hand. John WAS covered by a union. What happened here has less to do with politics than economics. The people in charge of spending and saving will look everywhere but among themselves for places to cut the budget. School transportation is an easy target, since it's only required for special education students. I support the idea of consolidation, because with a fixed foundation grant from the state, the only way to pay for increased transportation costs (or administrative costs, or operating costs) is to take money away from the students. Administrative consolidation also makes a lot of sense, but I guarantee that individual district administrators will fight a lot harder when their own jobs are on the line. And someday, they will be. Sooner or later, school districts will have to consolidate. Right now, Washtenaw County has more school districts than some states do. With charter schools included, Michigan has more than 800 school districts. That's an exceptionally wasteful way to go about educating children. Significant savings could be achieved by eliminating districts and consolidating or sharing services and administrative costs.

digger

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:07 p.m.

scooter---I'm thinking John was working for a public entity schools---jennys been around for 8 years couldn't she do something about this? I don't think she could because schools are funded by tax payers. tax payers are the ones working and paying taxes. Because our leadership wants to stimulate by creating more govt. jobs, who pays the taxes? You got it---the govt. Maybe WISD should have privatized. better for john?

scooter dog

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 5:52 p.m.

@Digger I said engler was the reason employees lost all their rights. Employers relished in his heavy handed stripping of workers rights. If your a employer you would want his kind back in office. Unless your covered by a union,everyday workers stand to lose with the engler types. John knows this first hand

Milton Shift

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 3:28 p.m.

Wow, bruceae, I can't wait to hear what you have to say when you get shafted like this. He has an attitude of "entitlement"?! Nauseating. digger: they probably laid him off because starting pay is lower than pay for an experienced driver. I knew the reactionary victim-blaming drivel was coming! Grow up folks and realize that, soon enough, this could be you.

bruceae

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 2:58 p.m.

@digger. Exactly. But when you're a liberal you are never responsible for your own actions. Jenny spent 8 years doing nothing and blaming Engler, Obama is still blaming Bush and failing and now we have this random bus driver who feels like he is entitled to a job just because he showed up every day for 21 years.

digger

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 1:13 p.m.

scooter dog--- engler still a problem? I now believe that it's true jennifer did absolutly nothing while getting a pay check for the last eight years. I've been a business owner for 30 years and my last spending spree for capital investments was during his years in office. maybe we can get his ideas back and get people back to work

Kathleen

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 1:03 p.m.

From what I gather, if you schmooze with the boss and make them like you a lot, that is how you get somewhere these days. It is not enough to do your job and remain a neutral, loyal, hardworking, player in the job scene. I have seen this over and over and it does disgust me. More than ever its who you blow.....

scooter dog

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 12:25 p.m.

Quite a few driver jobs in todays "Detroit Free Press",employment section

scooter dog

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 12:15 p.m.

You can thank ex-Gov Engler for your demise. While he was in office thru his doing,all workers lost any rights they had. Employers now days can and do,do as the damm well please to trample on workers rights,and this b/s about loyalty went out the window eons ago. Sorry to say but its a dog eat dog world out there and getting worse each and every year.

skenney1384

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 12:08 p.m.

This is a horrible situation and I can empathize as I've been unemployed for 11 months now. I saw signs that bus drivers were being hired and they should have taken the previous back at least by seniority. However, blaming it on Republicans and the "Bush" recession? Don't be such a sheltered liberal Terry. Get an understanding of economic cycles and realize that the recession would have happened regardless of which party was in power.

a2citizen

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 10:15 a.m.

@terry Calhoun: Republicans may be clamoring to reduce taxes, but who laid off John Riedisser? If I were to guess the political persuasion of Ypsi-A2-Willow Run I would not guess republican. @John Riedisser: I understand what you are going through. I am 51 and I recently lost my job after 21+ years. I NEVER missed a day of work. That's right, I was NEVER late and I NEVER called in sick and I NEVER used a sick day. Over the past six months I applied for over 170 positions, had 7 interviews, and two job offers. I am starting out low on the totem pole again but I am mapping out a career path that will allow me to grow. You can feel sorry for yourself. You can blame republicans. You can blame democrats. Or you can start sending out resumes. Since you have a CDL I would recommend getting some additional endorsements, such as air brakes. You may be able to find a job as a truck driver. I was actually in the process of studying for my CDL when I received a job offer. Good Luck.

digger

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 10:14 a.m.

I'm guessing maybe john had some issues in his personal file with driving issues parent or maybe parent complaints. The same thing went on with livingston county last summer and it was a way to weed out problem drivers. no dispatchers want to have to deal with parents about thier drivers. Maybe john isn't a team player. If he is a stand up driver with no history in his file he could have a discimination case. Liberal washtenaw county is great at discriminating. just ask contractors bidding county run construction projects

L'chaim

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:59 a.m.

@stunhsif -- You asked about the percentage of drivers and monitors who were laid-off by Ann Arbor and hired by the WISD. I don't have exact or 'confirmed' figures, but here's what I've gathered: 98 out of around 160 were hired by the WISD (around 20 retired, some did not apply to the WISD); another 14 people who had worked for the AAPS long ago, but were not employees last year, were also hired by the WISD, for a total of 112 'former employees' (out of around 160). The difference is around 48, and that hole was filled "off the street." As far as I know, at least 16 AAPS workers applied to the WISD but were rejected. 16 is 10% of 160. There may be more than 16, of course, and 160 is a generous estimate of the exact number of workers on payroll in June of 2010. I don't have figures for Ypsilanti and Willow Run. I've heard from reputable sources that there were around 60 workers at YPS and that around 10 of them are now with WISD; I know for certain that one YPS worker was rejected by the WISD. @Terry Calhoun -- This was not a case of getting rid of dead weight or "under-performers." They maintained the size of the fleet, the number of routes and the number of workers. The county used it's privileged status as "new employer" to pick and choose the workers it liked or did not like for whatever reason (there is no common denominator among the 16 of us not hired, we all have reasonably good work records). Also, you can't just blame Republicans for this. It is as much a problem of the Democrats whose leadership is no championing anti-union charter schools and the demise of unions and working-class issues and empowerment. @ john -- Keep fighting, brother. They were wrong to deny us employment. There is no reason that we should not be driving a school bus. There is no reason that the WISD should not have hired us. And there is no reason that the good citizens of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Willow Run should not support us in this. An injury to one is an injury to all. WISD, WE WANT OUR JOBS BACK!

Speechless

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:25 a.m.

Judging from limited reports and anecdotal comments on this site, it seems the WISD has been slimy in the way it handled the hiring of bus drivers this summer. The official shift of driving responsibilities to the WISD, and away from the participating school districts, looks to have been exploited as a means to dump any number of older and more pro-union employees. On top of this, I'm saddened by the apparent lack of brotherhood and sisterhood from the teachers' unions on this mattter. Publicly, they remained resolutely silent while longtime drivers got tossed under their former buses. Has Solidarity Forever morphed into "Well, whatever..."?

stunhsif

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 8:42 a.m.

John, can you think of any reason you were not selected and rehired based on your experience? To A2.COM, what was the "rehire" percentage overall, can you give us that information please?

Milton Shift

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 7:05 a.m.

John, I am sorry to hear about this. Labor rights have been disintegrating at an incredible pace worldwide (particularly since 2008) as the agenda of upward redistribution of wealth continues unimpeded - and it is terrible. They're finding every way possible to minimize any expenditures on the working class: slashing social programs, enacting wage cuts and work speedups... mass layoffs. Far too many people have found themselves in your position. I wish you the best. Don't listen to all the reactionary, victim-blaming wackos out there.

Terry Calhoun

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:45 a.m.

Unfortunately, this is only part of a pattern of more to come as Republicans clamor about reducing taxes and government spending in the face of the human losses like yours; which it must be noted are gains for someone else. This is the time to increase government spending, help families get through the Bush Recession, and invest in a positive future for all, not just for households with more than $250k per year of income. I don't know that much about the life of a school bus driver, but it doesn't strike me that this is a case of getting rid of dead weight. It seems that as a school bus driver you either perform or don't, and that would be obvious. Was the county getting rid of under-performers? That doesn't seem likely. It appears to be just another case of an employer (which is, ultimately, us) cutting costs by dumping current employees and hiring new to save money. It is not all about dollars, folks, it's also about a sustainable and prosperous future for all of us. As part of my job, I l am constantly looking at the future of higher education, which means looking at K-12, as well. If you think some people's dislike of paying tax dollars to have an educated young work force is bad now, just wait a couple of decades until *most* of the kids we are paying tax dollars (nation-wide demographics) for are not "white." It's going to get evil out there. WWJD?