Pennsylvania school bus drivers cut ties with local union

School bus drivers in Pennsylvania may have dealt a deep financial blow to a local union after voting overwhelmingly to cut ties.

Nearly 90 percent of drivers from the Gateway School District voted to withdraw from Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1729 in a June 27 secret ballot election. The vote means that the union will lose out on dues money from the 105 drivers employed by the district.

Local 1729 has been hemorrhaging members over the past 10 years and had just 130 dues-paying members in 2013, down from nearly 240 in 2009, according to federal labor filings. The union had hoped that the Gateway District, which is located in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville, would reverse the trend.

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