FORT VALLEY, Ga. — Blue Bird, a school bus manufacturer in Fort Valley, is easily Peach County's largest employer.
It's got more than three times as many employees as Fort Valley State University.
However, workers are wanting to unionize due to working conditions. They say they've been trying to make it happen for 18 months, and they’re coming to a vote in two weeks.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha spoke with one worker about why organizing is important to them.
"It's all about the buses, it's not about the people,” Dee Thomas explains.
Thomas has worked for Blue Bird for 10 years in the paint department. She’s also one of the leaders of the union effort.
"It's a good place to work at, but we need change,” she says.
Thomas says workers have three main problems.
The first: vacation time. Thomas says getting sick time is hard, too.
She says if you have any appointments, you must call out and be approved by a supervisor. If it isn’t approved, you get a "point."
"People will be sick and have doctors' excuses, and they don't take them,” she says. “We have a point system. If you get 6 points, you'll be terminated.”
Second, they say they need adequate pay raises that reflect the work they do.
"We're on an eight-hour work schedule, but we work over. You don't never get off on time,” Thomas explains. “People have families and they would like to spend time with their families."
Last, she says it's dangerous.
“When it rains, it rains inside the building. If we get sent home during that time, we don’t get no pay. You just go home,” she says. “Recently, we had a fire back there, and they pulled the fire alarm and it didn't go off. We didn't even have to come outside, we just kept working.”
Thomas says they've tried to change conditions, but they weren't taken seriously, so she says they had to organize.
"The company has forgotten about the people. We should be able to have some type of say-so about things that we want. We're the ones in there working, but they're making all the decisions."
She says management has tried to harass and intimidate employees to vote against the union, but she says that's for them to decide.
"You have a voice, you know what I'm saying? Use it! Everybody should be able to think for themselves and choose which way they want to go because this could be life changing for people,” Thomas says.
Blue Bird workers are scheduled to vote on May 11 and 12 on whether to organize through the United SteelWorkers Union.
The United Steelworkers Union says they’ve filed unfair labor practice charges against the company for trying to prevent workers from unionizing.
We reached out to Blue Bird. They did not respond.
----------
UPDATE, 5/3, 6 p.m.:
Blue Bird issued this statement:
For nearly 100 years, Blue Bird has supported thousands of middle-Georgia employees as well as the communities where we work and serve. In all that time, we have remained union free.
At Blue Bird, we believe that leadership and team members talking directly with one another is the best way to create a positive work environment and achieve our goals of quality, productivity and increased opportunity and rewards for every team member.
Although we respect and support the right for employees to choose, we do not believe that Blue Bird is better served by injecting a labor union into our relationship with employees. During the pending election campaign, we have voiced our opinion to our employees that a union is not in the best interest of the Company or our employees, but we have respected the rights of our employees and the USW at all times.
-------------
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 200,000 salary or wage workers were members of unions in 2022 out of 4.2 million workers.
That's just over 5.4% of workers or 1/19 workers.
It's one of the nation's lowest rates.
The website Cause IQ says the cities with the most unions in Georgia are Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, and Albany.