"Bus Mama" — that's how schoolchildren refer to San Diego Unified Bus Driver Christy Williams.
"One of the things I tell my kids, 'You know your parents are entrusting you to me. Probably one of the only strangers that they would just hand [their children] off to, and I don't plan on letting them down,'" said Williams, who drives routes in La Jolla and southeastern San Diego.
The 26-year veteran is featured in the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council's #WeAreLabor campaign. The organization says it represents about 135 labor groups. The series of videos on social media, which launched just ahead of Labor Day, puts a spotlight on workers to highlight their roles and promotes the power of uniting around workplace causes.
Williams, interim president for California School Employees Association San Diego Chapter 724, said the initiative helps remind people of the range of staff members working for the education system.
"When you see a school bus, you think of school. You never think of the trainer that it takes to teach the school bus driver, and the schedulers that make the stops happen when you pick up your kids, the dispatchers that call you and say, 'Hey there’s a kid on the corner or a parent running late,'" Williams said. "All these pieces work together and make it all work.”
The campaign also features Williams, plus a mechanic, electrician, hotel employee, nurse, firefighter and a home care worker, discussing what they say are the benefits of union membership. For example, Williams told KPBS, the organization pushed back when dozens of bus drivers were laid off due to a budget deficit. She said all of them are now back on the job.
"Sometimes the only thing standing between you and your job is your union. Sometimes the only thing standing between you and your health benefits is your union, negotiating those things for you," she said.
However, union membership nationally is on the decline, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which "proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers."
The Aug. 24 report showed a steady decrease over the last six decades and linked this to a growth in economic inequality. At the same time, an Aug. 30 Gallup poll found Americans' approval of unions has improved.
Of the roughly 1,000 adults surveyed, 61 percent responded in favor of organized labor. That's the highest rate since 2003 and an increase of 13 percentage points since the recorded all-time low in 2009.
"As more time passes since the bailout of two of the Big Three auto companies, a possible reason unions dipped in approval, it appears that unions are once again solidly popular." Gallup reported.
The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
