Alaska’s lone congressional representative has taken sides in labor dispute involving Mat-Su Borough school bus drivers and Durham School Services, the bus company.
The drivers dropped the children off at schools last Tuesday, and then walked off the job, creating chaos for parents, teachers, and drivers on borough roads.
“Striking is never an easy decision for workers — particularly educational professionals. The Teamsters Local 959 voted nearly unanimously to begin striking for better pay and safer working conditions. I’m sure they didn’t make this decision lightly,” Rep. Mary Peltola wrote. “Let’s get them a good deal ASAP so they can get back to serving the Mat-Su community. When workers organize, they win!”
The Teamsters have asked the district to intervene with Durham School Services, which won the contract to provide school bus services in the Mat-Su, but took over during the Covid pandemic and has had numerous challenges faced by other companies who are trying to staff up with licensed commercial drivers.
Teamsters Local 959 endorsed Peltola in her bid for Congress and donated to her 2022 campaign the maximum amount allowed by law.
Peltola vs. Ticketmaster
In other news, Rep. Peltola has come down on the side of super-star singer Taylor Swift against Ticketmaster, an online ticket broker that the pop star has had a dispute with over business practices.
In a post on Twitter, Peltola posted the Monopoly game banker character, and parroted words from a Taylor Swift song, “I’m the problem, it’s me.”
Taylor Swift fans are charging that Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, have a monopoly by controlling 70% of the big concert ticket market.
Not everyone was amused at the commentary by Peltola. One Twitter user responded by reminding Peltola that more important issues were at stake for Americans, while another Twitter commentator questioned what intern had taken over Peltola’s Twitter account.
