School bus strike averted as North Hills drivers reach tentative pact with company

Students in the North Hills School District will be able to ride the bus to school Wednesday after drivers who were poised to strike reached a tentative contract agreement.

Union drivers for the district’s contracted bus provider, ABC Transit, reached the agreement shortly after midnight.

The drivers rejected a contract offer Monday evening and authorized a strike that was scheduled to start on Wednesday morning.

“Our bus drivers are a vital part of our daily operations,” Superintendent Pat Mannarino said in a statement posted to the district’s website. “Without them, we cannot give all of our students the in-person educational experience they need and deserve. We are thankful the two sides could come together and reach an agreement.”

District officials said on Tuesday that if the negotiations had failed, schools would still remain open for in-person instruction for its 4,600 students.

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.

The strike would not have impacted all of ABC Transit’s drivers — just the ones in North Hills School District.

Company officials said the tentative pact with Teamsters Local 249, which represents its drivers, is a three-year contract that was negotiated during a two-hour negotiating session with a federal mediator. The contract still must be approved by the drivers.