DeKALB – Before bus drivers for DeKalb School District 428 went on strike this week, the union that represents them filed three unfair labor practice charges against the busing company they work for with the National Labor Relations Board.

Local drivers who are members of Elgin-based Teamsters Local 330 went on strike Monday after voting down a contract offer Friday from busing company First Student Inc.

Maureen Richmond, a spokeswoman for First Student, said the union and company are meeting Thursday afternoon. When asked whether that was the earliest the two sides could meet, she replied "that's my understanding."

Multiple messages left Tuesday with the union were not returned. Teamsters Local 330 President Dominic Romanazzi said Monday that the union is asking for starting hourly wages for DeKalb drivers that are similar to what First Student drivers in the Naperville, Oswego and Villa Park school districts make.

The union wants DeKalb drivers to start at $12 an hour, up from $10, Romanazzi said, and for monitors to make $10 an hour, up from $8.15. Naperville drivers start at $13.46 an hour, according to that district's Human Relations Department, and Oswego drivers start at $14.56 an hour, according to the contract the district has with First Student. Villa Park referred a request for that information to First Student.

Romanazzi said Monday that the union was authorized to strike because the company committed multiple unfair labor practices.

Pete Perez, deputy officer in charge for the Peoria sub-regional office of the National Labor Relations Board, said Local 330 filed two charges Oct. 29 against First Student and a third Nov. 2.

The first charge levels two accusations against First Student: That the company dealt directly with DeKalb drivers without union consent and engaged in surveillance of union activity, according to the charge filed with the NLRB.

"After First Student walked out of mediation conducted on October 28, 2009, the following day First Student management has been approaching its employees and taking lists of who would be willing to cross the picket line in the event industrial action would occur," according to the charge. Oct. 28 is the day the two sides met with a federal mediator.

The charge filed Nov. 2 said that First Student "unlawfully claimed to implement terms and conditions of employment in the absence of a bona fide impasse. In addition the employer has unilaterally implemented a wage increase," according to the filed charge.

Richmond has said that the company on Nov. 2 implemented a more than 20 percent wage increase over four years for DeKalb employees. If the two sides were at a "genuine impasse" then the employer could implement its proposals, Perez said, but the union is contending that negotiations were not at an impasse.

"We disagree with those claims," Richmond said. "We maintain that we have been negotiating in good faith."

Now that the charges have been filed, the union has to provide supporting evidence, such as sworn statements, to the NLRB to back up their claims, Perez said.

The NLRB will look at that evidence, contact witnesses and then contact First Student to get their side of the story, Perez said. Then an internal deliberation will occur, followed by a ruling.

Charges can be dismissed, which the union could appeal, Perez said. The union also could withdraw their complaints if the NLRB rules to dismiss the charges.

Or the NLRB can find that a violation occurred and propose a settlement, he said. If the company does not agree, the NLRB would issue a complaint, similar to an indictment, that would lay out everything the agency is prepared to prove in front of an administrative law judge, Perez said.

If it progresses that far, then the union and the company would go in front of that administrative law judge and present their sides, much like a trial, Perez said. That judge would render a decision, which also could be appealed to higher courts.

Classes will remain in session for the duration of the strike and parents are expected to get their children to school. Starting Tuesday, First Student provided busing for students with special needs, DeKalb Schools spokesman Russ Fletcher said, and busing for after-school activities will resume today. Richmond said that 30 of the approximate 95 local members of the union crossed the picket line Tuesday, and the company expects at least one more to do so today.