NEWS

Friday school bus service uncertain

By ALEX MALM
Posted 10/14/21

By ALEX MALM On the eve of a contract negotiation meeting between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 618 and First Student, both Union officials and First Student didn't rule out the possibility of a possible strike or work stoppage depending the outcome

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NEWS

Friday school bus service uncertain

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On the eve of a contract negotiation meeting between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 618 and First Student, both Union officials and First Student didn’t rule out the possibility of a possible strike or work stoppage depending the outcome of the meeting. First Student provides bus services for 6,300 Warwick students daily.

While Nick DeCristofaro, president for Local 618 said he doesn’t think it’s in the best interest of anyone for the drivers to go on strike he didn’t rule it out completely.

“I definitely do not want to see a strike, I want to see us come to an amicable agreement,” DeCristofaro said. 

When asked about rumors of a possible strike Friday pending the outcome of Thursday’s meeting, Frank McMahon, a spokesperson for First Student said in an email “First Student appreciates our dedicated Warwick school bus drivers and that is why we are continuing to negotiate in good faith with Local 618. We have another negotiating session scheduled for tomorrow and look forward to reaching a mutually acceptable contract agreement as soon as possible.”

School Committee Chairwoman Judy Cobden in an interview Wednesday morning said that she wants the community to know that First Student is a separate entity than the School District. 

“We are not in charge of the drivers, we are not in charge of First Student. First Student needs to settle their contract,” she said. 

Cobden said that she believes bus drivers should be compensated better. 

“I totally support them getting more money and giving them what they deserve,” she said.’

This month the School Department has felt the challenges of not enough drivers being available.

The most recent example came on Tuesday morning when parents and guardians in Warwick were notified by the School Department that buses could be delayed at least 15 minutes on Tuesday morning and afternoon. 

“First Student will be combining some routes in order to accommodate all students,” the email stated. 

The delay came a day after bus drivers were notified that two people who attended their union meeting on Oct.7 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and were at the meeting while contagious, according to a letter obtained by the Warwick Beacon.

“The Rhode Island Department of Health strongly encourages all employees who were present at this meeting to get tested for COVID-19. Testing is encouraged even if you are fully vaccinated,” the letter stated.

“First Student is doing a good job to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the letter goes on to say. “However, variants which spread more easily are in Rhode Island and case rates have been going up since March. RIDOH is encouraging more testing as an important way to help keep students and staff safe.”

McMahon, Tuesday afternoon stated, "First Student was notified by two of its Warwick employees that they were COVID positive and had attended a non-First Student event that was held on October 7th. Pursuant to its COVID protocol and following RIDOH guidance, First Student contacted all of its Warwick-based employees and encouraged them to get tested. "

"To avoid wide-scale disruption to school bus transportation for Warwick families while some drivers are out on sick leave and PTO, First Student has been working very closely with the Warwick School Department to ensure it has enough drivers and aides available to service the bus routes," McMahon said. "While school bus driver shortages have already been a significant challenge throughout the pandemic, First Student will continue to support its employees and coordinate with the school district to provide safe, reliable transportation."

Superintendent Lynn Dambruch, said that nine drivers were out on Tuesday, which impacted 37 runs and 834 students. 

Because First Student is a separate entity from the School Department Damburch said that they would be working with RIDOH to do contact tracing and determine if any students were close contacts with those who may have been contagious.

On Wednesday afternoon Dambruch said that most of the bus delays were about 10-15 minutes with one being over 30 minutes.

When First Student was faced with a lack of drivers on Oct. the School District canceled all bus services for the day. 

“Unfortunately, First Student will be unable to provide transportation services today, Friday Oct.1 , due to a union labor issue,” an email to parents from school officials read. “High School buses have already been dispatched, but there will be no elementary or middle school busing this morning including small buses for special needs students.”

According to Catherine Bonang, executive assistant to the superintendent, 14 routes lacked either a bus driver or aid prompting the administration to cancel all busing that day. 

While at first some questioned if some or all of the 14 call outs were due to a “sick out”

At that time Mayor Frank Picozzi said that he spoke with the Union, the bus company, and drivers and found out that some people were out on long term injuries, some who took personal days, and some who called out sick. He said that based on the numbers, the number of people that called out sick “wasn’t out of the ordinary.”

“There was no job action, it wasn't a sick out. It was kinda like a perfect storm,” he said.

Cobden said that they understand that there is a national shortage for bus drivers, but said that they haven’t had the type of problems they are facing until the labor negotiations began. 

“We hire them (First Student) to do their job and all I want is them to do their job and they aren’t fulfilling their quotas of busses that they can provide us,” Cobden said. “We understand that there already is a shortage but right now it seems to be even more of a shortage.”

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