Laidlaw International Inc.'s Greyhound Lines bus subsidiary said Monday that the union that represents Greyhound's drivers and half its mechanics voted to reject a proposed new contract. Laidlaw, based in Naperville, Illinois, agreed in February to a $2.8 billion buyout bid from Britain's FirstGroup Ltd. But FirstGroup's interest in Laidlaw is widely considered to be the Lisle company's flagship school-bus operation, which owns some 41,000 school buses and has student-transportation contracts with thousands of U.S. school districts. FirstGroup and Laidlaw are North America's No. 2 and No. 1 providers, respectively, of such outsourced school transit services.
See "Union rejects proposed contract with Greyhound", James P. Miller, Chicago Tribune, April 1, 2007