A surprise strike by the union representing Boston schoolbus drivers halted service this morning for more than 30,000 students, catching city officials by surprise and leaving parents scrambling for alternative transportation while police scoured the streets looking for stranded students.
Only 30 of the school system’s 650 buses were on the road. The job action stemmed from a disagreement between the schools’ transportation vendor, Veolia, and the union representing the drivers, officials said.
“Thirty-three thousand students and their parents have been affected today as a result of this illegal work stoppage by the bus drivers’ union,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said at a news conference.
“The bus drivers, let me tell you, have a contract. A very good contract. Today’s actions are by some angry people who don’t follow the rules,” he said. “I won’t allow them to jeopardize [Boston Public Schools students’] education or safety.”
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Interim School Superintendent John McDonough said, “We acknowledge and share the level of frustration that parents throughout this city are experiencing this morning.” He promised to use “whatever means are at our disposal” to get buses running again.
Valerie Michael, a spokesperson for Illinois-based Veolia Transportation Inc., referred all questions to the school system.
Steve Kirschbaum, chairman of the grievance committee for United Steelworkers Local 8751, which represents approximately 700 schoolbus drivers who work for Veolia, said the protest reflected the drivers’ frustration at the way they’ve been treated since Veolia took over the busing contract this year.
He said the drivers’ grievances include changes in their health care plan, payroll problems, and new procedures instituted by Veolia.
Union officials at a protest at a bus yard in Readville provided a Globe reporter with a National Labor Relations Board complaint they had filed.
The complaint listed a host of issues, saying, among other things, that Veolia had refused to bargain with the union, had unilaterally implemented changes to terms and conditions of their contract, had refused to recognize their union and its officers, and had refused to abide by the grievance and arbitration process.
To help students get to school, the mayor’s office announced this morning that any student with a valid student ID could ride the MBTA system for free. Boston police checked bus stops and streets throughout the city to help children get to school or direct them to transportation.
Schools spokesman Brian Ballou said officials had heard rumblings about the strike and had placed monitors at bus yards this morning, who learned shortly after 5 a.m. that the strike was underway.
E-mail alerts and automated calls were sent out to all families with children in the schools in hopes that they could arrange alternative ways to get to school.
The school department is trying to negotiate to get full bus service reinstated by the afternoon when school lets out. School officials expect the strike to continue through the morning, at least.
Schools spokesman Lee McGuire said the work stoppages happened at all four of the system’s bus yards.
He said the bus drivers’ complaints included increased GPS monitoring of where school buses are.
“This is 30,000 families who had to scramble at the last minute this morning to find alternative transportation,” he said.
At the Readville bus yard, it wasn’t clear this morning whether rank and file members were ready to resume working. When union president Dumond Louis, addressing the workers through a bullhorn, asked the workers to go back to work this afternoon, he was greeted with boos and shouts of “No!”
“We have to do it legally,” he tried to tell the dozens of workers, but he was drowned out by opposition from his own membership.
Lisa Jones, a driver since 1988 and a union delegate, said she didn’t know when the stoppage would end.
“I don’t know if the membership is going to do it or not,” she said. “It was not job action, it was a protest.”
At the Blackstone School in the South End, one elementary student stepped out of a police car this morning. Principal Danielle Morrissey said others also had been delivered by police. The school has 640 students, 70 percent of whom are bused, including 250 who come from East Boston and 35 with multiple disabilities who require specialized buses. No buses have arrived this morning. She said she expected a lot of absences, but the school would continue operating.
“It’s business as usual. We’ll teach the kids in front of us,” she said. “It’s tough for families to get here without the school bus transportation.”
Nelson Foster walked from Dudley Square to the Blackstone, with several other family members, to drop off his 7-year-old son.
“I don’t think the word cumbersome sums it up,” he said. “It’s an inconvenience for everyone.”
At the Ohrenberger School in West Roxbury, it was unclear how many children would be attending.
“We’re getting a lot of parent dropoffs. That’s all we know,” said one person who declined to identify herself and was answering phones, shortly before the 8:30 a.m. start time at the elementary school.
Another woman, who also declined to give her name, said “some parents don’t even know about” the strike and had been calling, wondering where their buses were.
The strike also affected Boston charter schools, which use city buses. “We didn’t get one bus today,” said Denise Choukas, an administrator at the Neighborhood House Charter School in Dorchester, which has 400 students, kindergarten through eighth grade.
“A lot of kids got rides in. We’re hoping by the end of the day, [the drivers] will be back to work. Our phone is ringing off the hook.”
The two candidates running for mayor of Boston said they were disgusted by the job action.
“It is shameful for the school bus drivers union to use our children as pawns in a political game,” City Councilor John R. Connolly said. “This is about safety first and foremost, and it is totally unacceptable that our children were put at risk this morning, not to mention the impact on thousands of parents who will miss work. Missing even one day of school is a real problem for our children who face a daunting achievement gap.”
Representative Martin J. Walsh said, “Kids and parents must come first. This is wrong. The bus drivers have put our children in harm’s way. This is an illegal action, causing a huge disruption, and I call on the bus drivers to return to work immediately. This is a violation of the contract and cannot be tolerated.”
Source: BostonGlobe.com
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