Potential school bus driver strike could affect thousands

Possible job action comes after a season full of headaches for students, parents and teachers

First came the school bus driver shortage, causing back-to-school chaos for 2,600 Toronto students and their families this fall and still lingering in parts of the city.

Now a possible strike this week by a group of bus drivers could make getting to school and back a major challenge for up to 8,500 students in Toronto public and Catholic boards.

Drivers with the bus operator First Student of Markham are continuing talks with the company in advance of a strike or lockout deadline Thursday at 12:01 a.m., according to their Unifor local 4268.

“We cannot continue to have hours a week go unpaid and unrecognized,” said local president Deb Montgomery, a driver for 30 years.

But she said she’s optimistic a deal can be reached.

A work disruption would affect vastly more students than the bus driver shortage in September.

This disruption would affect almost 6,000 students in 46 Catholic schools and 2,500 in 42 schools from the Toronto District School Board.

“It’s an uncomfortable situation and we’re still holding out hope they’ll be able to resolve this,” said John Yan, spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which has 30,000 students bused each day.

“We’re prepared for the worst and hoping for the best.”

Both school boards have posted lists of

schools that would be affected on their websites and are urging parents to start planning alternate arrangements, as no replacement bus service will be provided.

A bus driver strike would be a first for the city, based on available records, said Kevin Hodgkinson, general manager of Toronto Student Transportation Group, the consortium of seven bus companies that serves the two boards.

“As far as we know, we’ve never had a driver strike here in Toronto.”

It would also mean the third straight month of transportation commotion for Toronto families that caused such havoc in September that it prompted the Ontario Ombudsman to launch a formal investigation, now underway.

Many students endured weeks of late arrivals in the morning and delayed departures after the dismissal bell — in some cases by up to 90 minutes — as drivers took on double or triple their usual routes to cope with the shortage.

Parents were forced to improvise and schools had to provide extra su-

The bus companies face a high employee turnover rate. Only 30 per cent of drivers who start training end up taking a job

pervision to manage late arrivals and departures.

The driver shortage caused such an unexpected and prolonged disruption that bus companies even resorted to flying in replacement drivers from Alberta and hiring a limousine service to transport some students.

He said those extreme measures will not end up costing school boards because bus companies are responsible for covering costs related to problems delivering its service.

The situation has improved, and only about a dozen routes are still without designated drivers, affecting 675 Catholic board students and 225 at the TDSB.

Hodgkinson said the bus companies face a huge challenge training new drivers to keep up with the high turnover.

Only 30 per cent of those who begin training end up staying to take a job, he said.

Unions and drivers blame low wages that don’t reflect their responsibilities and poor working conditions. The jobs, which pay the equivalent of about $12 to $15 dollars an hour, involve split shifts and are seasonal. Drivers often aren’t paid for duties before and after driving students, such as inspecting their buses or for long trips to and from their routes.

“In a year when both boards were hit with driver shortages, it is more important than ever that we reach a deal that will help to both recruit and retain drivers in this city,” said Unifor’s Montgomery.