Councilman David G. Greenfield is calling on negotiators for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union to continue negotiations in order to avoid a school bus driver strike that would impact 152,000 students and their families, including 60,000 children who receive special education services, as soon as tomorrow morning. Councilman Greenfield is also calling on Local 1181 to give the public ample notice before going on strike, considering the important public service they are responsible for providing. The union has recently threatened to go on strike in response to a request for bids the City issued earlier this month for companies to operate 1,100 bus routes serving children in kindergarten through 12th grade. The disagreement stems from the fact that the new contract does not guarantee current drivers will keep their jobs.

In response to the potential for a strike, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott have said the City will consider contingency plans including issuing student MetroCards to the impacted children or reimbursing parents for part of the cost of driving the students to school. While drivers have continued working as negotiations continue, parents and students are now facing the real threat of a strike occurring as soon as next week, possibly Monday morning.

With the potential of a strike to be called in the coming days, Councilman Greenfield is urging both sides to continue serious negotiations to avoid greatly disrupting the lives of the thousands of students who would be impacted by this issue and their parents. Considering that these routes also serve thousands of special needs children who often travel large distances to reach their schools, issuing MetroCards or relying on parents, many of whom work, to drive their children is not an appropriate solution. As a result, a deal must be reached immediately before families are impacted.

“Parents rely on yellow school bus service to safely transport their children to and from school every day. A bus strike would really make life difficult for hundreds of thousands of parents. Given everything New York’s families have gone through this year, including disruptions due to Hurricane Sandy, the last thing parents should have to worry about is how their child will get to school. The city and union must find a way to avert a strike and keep these buses on the roads. Anything less is completely unacceptable,” said Councilman Greenfield.

The major point of contention between the City and union is the fact that the request for bids does not require new companies selected to hire the same bus drivers currently working on those routes. In 2011, the state Court of Appeals ruled that such protection provisions are not allowed. Despite the differences in both sides’ negotiating stances, Councilman Greenfield believes a deal can be made in the next few days and is urging both sides to continue formal negotiations until an agreement is reached.

“The bus union must respect parents enough to give them ample notice before a strike. It would be a slap in the face to the hard-working parents of New York City to stop yellow bus service without giving parents the opportunity to make alternate arrangements. More importantly, both sides must continue working on behalf of the 152,000 students and their families to ensure that a strike does not come to pass,” concluded Councilman Greenfield.

(YWN Desk – NYC)