Organizing Heats up at Dallas School District
DALLAS ISD BUS DRIVERS ARE TAKING IT TO THE SCHOOL BOARD
This summer’s record-breaking heat hasn’t slowed down bus drivers. Across Dallas Independent School District, drivers have been doing their daily work in aging buses with no air conditioning, hauling kids to and from school in triple-digit heat with no relief for themselves or the students on board.
Bus drivers and support staff are fed up. They are are organizing with Local 100 to do something about it.
Taking the Issue to the Board
On August 27th, Local 100 DFW Metroplex Lead Organizer Anne Reed addressed the Dallas ISD school board directly, joined by six bus drivers who came to make sure their working conditions were addressed.
They layed out two main issues:
1. Hot buses without air conditioning: drivers are working full shifts in extreme heat with no cooling relief, in vehicles that are overdue for replacement.
2. Driver retention: qualified, experienced drivers are leaving the job, and the district is bleeding money trying to replace them.
Old Buses, No Relief
The ask to the board was straightforward: newer buses, cooling stations for drivers between routes, and temperature gauges so extreme heat conditions can actually be tracked and responded to instead of just being guessed at.
The Cost of Losing Good Drivers
Local 100 is also pushing the district to implement an exit strategy — a process for talking to bus drivers and support staff when they leave, so the district understands why qualified people are walking away instead of just posting another job listing.
That matters because it costs Dallas ISD, and ultimately taxpayers, real money every time a trained, qualified driver quits and has to be replaced. Dallas ISD should be working to keep the people who already know the routes, know the kids, and know the job. The district should be investing in retention, not turnover.
Support Staff don’t have to fight alone
Whereas other unions are there for the teachers, Local 100 represents support staff specifically. We stand with campus workers dealing with poor working conditions to insure they’re not fighting this alone. Local 100 is working to bring support staff together across departments so issues like heat, staffing, retention, respect on the job — are raised as one collective voice instead of scattered, individual complaints that are easy for a district to ignore.
What’s Next
The next Dallas ISD school board meeting is September 24th, and Local 100 will be there again. We hope more support staff — bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, and beyond — will join us. Every seat filled and every voice raised makes it harder for the district to look away.
Local 100 Member Speaks up for Staff Protections from Arkansas Law
ACT 372 WOULD CRIMINALIZE LIBRARIANS. ULU MEMBER LONI BEAN TOOK HER CONCERNS TO THE BOARD
Local 100 members showed up to the August Central Arkansas Library System board meeting to put a question to the board directly: what is CALS going to do to protect staff from Act 372?
What is Act 372?
Act 372 has been tied up in court since it passed in 2023. The law imposes criminal penalties for distributing material deemed “harmful to minors.” A federal district judge struck down key parts of it as unconstitutional back in December 2024. But this July, a federal appeals court reversed that ruling and cleared the way for the law to take effect.
That leaves library workers in a genuinely dangerous spot. Violating the law is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. And nobody can say with certainty what the law actually requires. John Adams, lead attorney for the eighteen plaintiffs (CALS and outgoing Executive Director Nate Coulter among them) challenging the law, told the board he intends to ask the appeals court for clarification on how libraries are supposed to comply. Until that happens, Coulter said, staff may not know where the lines are until someone actually gets prosecuted for crossing one.
Local 100 Speaks Up
Member Loni Bean, a bilingual specialist at the Dee Brown Library, took that risk to the board directly. Bean warned that Act 372’s supporters could try to “make an example of” a worker at the state’s largest library system, and asked the board to do something concrete about it: pass a policy, at next month’s meeting, guaranteeing that CALS will provide legal representation and job security for any employee who faces legal trouble for actions taken in good faith, on the job, in line with library policy.
Nate Coulter Is on Board, and the Next Director Needs to Be as Well
Executive Director Coulter has already pleged to support CALS staff, and he voiced support for putting a more formal protection policy in place, to the agreement of several other board members. Since he’ll be retiring in October, it makes sense for the board to take this step of making that pledge an official policy of the library.
What’s next
The board was agreeable to the resolution but we’ll need to bring it up again next meeting to make sure it gets to a vote.
Next CALS Board Meeting: Thursday Sept. 24, Noon
Vera Snook Boardroom 5th floor of Main Branch
Before you go, send an email to board@cals.org by Noon on Wed Sept. 23 to request public comment.
What We’re Asking the Board to Adopt
Local 100 has put forward the following language for to the board:
Central Arkansas Library System will provide or fund legal representation for any employee who faces a legal complaint, investigation, or criminal charge arising from actions taken in good faith in the course of their job duties and in accordance with library policy, including matters arising under Act 372.
Congratulations Jera Mitchell!
WITH LOCAL 100 FIELD DIRECTOR TONEY ORR
In recognition of dedicated service as a union steward at the City of
Little Rock Aug. 20, 2025 to present. For standing strong, speaking up,
and fighting for the rights and dignity of our members.
Your strength makes our union strong!
2026 Gulf Coast Community Services Association (GCCSA) Orientation
United Labor Unions Local 100 is proud to represent Head Start and Early Head Start workers at GCCSA. From classroom teachers to support staff, our members are the people who make GCCSA’s mission possible every day. Local 100 stands with you to make sure your voices are heard!
From the Field Director’s Desk
ULU Local 100 Field Director
Toney Orr
Take a look at our Local 100 logo sometime. Right there in the design is a map of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. It’s a reminder of how far this union reaches. Local 100 isn’t just active in one city or one state. We’re on the ground in all the states on that logo, fighting for our members.
In Little Rock Arkansas, we sat down with several different city departments to hash out workplace issues on behalf of our members.
But that’s not all we’ve been up to.
Right now we’re at the table negotiating contracts with Head Start centers in Shreveport and Houston, and with nursing homes in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. We’re working alongside city employees in New Orleans. And up in Dallas, we’re pushing the Independent School District on hot buses and the other safety concerns that come with them, because we fight for the staff driving those busses and the kids it’s not just the kids riding those buses who are at risk. It’s the staff driving them too.
None of this happens by accident, and none of it happens without members who show up. Every one of these fights, whether it’s a bus in Dallas or a nursing home in Baton Rouge, started with someone deciding they weren’t going to wait around for things to get better on their own. That’s what organizing is. It’s the power we build together when we stop asking permission and start asking each other for help.
So this month, I want to remind you of that power. Whatever state you’re in, whatever workplace you clock into, you are part of something bigger than your building or your city. We are in solidarity with every one of our members across every state we serve, and that solidarity is what makes all of this work!
