Bus drivers for North Hills School District reject contract offer, set to walk off the job
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Bus drivers for the North Hills School District rejected a contract offer Monday evening and have authorized a strike.
Drivers for district’s contracted transportation provider, ABC Transit, are represented by Teamsters Local 249.
Bus service will not be available starting Wednesday morning for district students and students from private and parochial schools who ride a bus.
District officials said they are working on a plan on how to get students to school. That plan will be emailed to parents when complete.
“The plan is not to send 4,600 kids (in the district) into a virtual environment,” Superintendent Pat Mannarino said in a statement issued by the district.
At around 11 a.m. on Tuesday the district issued a statement saying that the contract negotiations between the ABC transit and the union “are ongoing.”
“While we are planning for transportation to be unavailable to students beginning…Wednesday, we are hopeful an agreement will be reached later today,” distinct officials said.
District officials said if the negotiations fail and drivers strike, schools will be open for in-person instruction.
The district said additional details about how the transportation of students to and from school will be handled is not being released “so as to not interfere with the negotiations.
ABC Transit is the district’s transportation contractor and its bus drivers are not district employees, which means school officials have not been involved in contract negotiations with drivers.
Additionally, the strike does not impact all of ABC Transit’s drivers – just the ones in North Hills School District.
School directer Phil Little issued a statement on social media calling for residents to pressure the negotiating parties to reach a deal.
“While the North Hills School District has no involvement in the situation between ABC Transit and their drivers, our children could become collateral damage, should a strike occur,” he wrote.
“I urge parents and neighbors to join together and advocate for our children, by contacting ABC Transit and ask that they come to an agreement with their drivers, and avoid the outcome that no one wants to see occur.”