The real issues behind the looming bus strike by Sara Catalinotto of PIST

The Chancellor has warned of a possible school bus strike shortly after students return from the Xmas vacation.  The issues are not obvious to most parents; here is an explanation by Sara Catalinotto of Parents to ImproveSchool Transportation [PIST].  She adds:

1)  Next step in bidding on our kids' buses for next year is Thurs. Jan 3 at 1:00 p.m. at 30-30 Thomson Ave, LIC (next door to OPT). Of course this is a tricky time of day for parents who have to meet the bus.  Please let us know if you would consider going there to observe.  

credit: WCBS news

2)  Please stay tuned for a petition from parents to the Mayor based on the statement below, and other updates, in the next day or two. 

3)  Please tell us whether or not your child's school has held any bus evacuation drills this year.

4)  Here and attached is PIST Statement to parents at this critical moment for NYC school busing. 
Please feel free to comment, post, forward, print & share.

WHY IS THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN UP FOR BIDDING?

We are parents who organize other parents to demand better conditions for the education and transportation of students with and without disabilities.

           We do not accept “cost cutting” as a reason to force children onto long, twisted bus routes that stop at too many schools; routes that make many children miss school breakfast, classes, Related Services and/or Extended Day.  We are sick and tired of violations of legally mandated transportation accommodations—such as limited time travel and climate control—that cause kids with special needs to arrive physically and mentally drained to school and home.

           We are fearful of inadequate equipment on wheelchair buses.  We want more, not less training for bus crews.  We are angry at the lack of policies for separating teens from little kids on specialized transportation.   We think it’s hypocrisy for the DOE to suddenly start documenting bus evacuation drills that we have been demanding for two years but have yet to witness. 

            At this time the authorities, from Governor Cuomo to Mayor Bloomberg to Chancellor Walcott—who have never reached out to parents like us about the above concerns—are speaking and acting in favor of more “cost cutting” in the yellow bus system. 

They are attempting to establish contracts now for more than a thousand of the Fall 2013 routes, without the job protection and related benefits that all bus workers in K-12 have had for more than thirty years, known as Employee Protection Provisions or EPP.  This would set a precedent for other routes to eventually lose these protections also.

We disagree because the working conditions of bus drivers, escorts, and mechanics are the riding conditions of our children. 

EPP = SAFETY!  Having people with industry-wide seniority follow the work when different companies win bids means that the adults on the bus know what they are doing, are trained in emergency first aid, and are less afraid to point out potential safety hazards to their boss.  School bus drivers should be able to support themselves without a second job, and to retire before their reflexes slow down.

EPP = STABILITY because a decent wage and benefits package means lower turnover and less burnout.  Children who see familiar adults on the bus over the years feel safer and behave better. 

EPP = BEST PRACTICES.  School bus companies are in business to make money, so a contract without enough funding for training, dry runs, equipment, repairs and maintenance will pressure them to lower standards.  Don’t our children deserve safe, quality service? 

EPP is not only for the union.  IT IS OUR TAXES AND RESOURCES BEING PUT TOWARDS ALL CHILDREN’S EDUCATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS! 

When we read NYCDOE messages, we remember their record of downplaying the importance of school bus conditions to ensure these rights. 

In September, when autistic three-year-olds had three- and four-hour bus rides with inexperienced ‘competitive bid’ companies, Bloomberg said, “My understanding is they’re actually doing a pretty good job.”

            In October, when parents, Deaf students and educators, and school bus union leaders began to testify at Council Member Robert Jackson’s Oversight Hearing on School Busing, the DOE officials walked out.

            In November after Sandy, authorities rushed to reopen schools—even those without heat or with mental health shelters inside.  Following Cuomo’s executive order to drop regulations on vehicles and drivers, they placed students from the hard-hit areas on casino-style buses.             

With the NYSED regulations gone until further notice, EPP may be the only regulation on busing services that is in effect at this time!

In December, with families still reeling from Sandy and Sandy Hook about to begin winter break, the NYCDOE admitted in writing that they want to cut the cost of employing people who provide a vital service to 15% of schoolchildren: yellow school bus drivers, matrons/attendants, and mechanics.   The authorities appear willing to risk a legal strike at the cost of our children’s ability to get to school. UNACCEPTABLE!

The new bid proposal even recommends busing general and special education students together in 2015, despite the concerns of parent leaders.

            Of the two parties to the union contract, we have found that it is the union who agrees with parents on not wanting to throw away standards, while the authorities seek to sell our children’s safety to the lowest bidder.

            Please contact us for more on how and where to protest this type of bidding. Parents should not be the last to know what goes on in bid meetings that involve children’s lives.  You can also call 311 today and tell the mayor you support EPP.  [email: pistnyc@gmail.com , phone: 347-504-3310 (se habla español)]  

What's the real story behind the threatened bus strike: are the bus drivers the enemy or part of the 99%?

The real facts behind the threatened school bus strike are difficult to untangle.  As the NY Times explained today, the mayor's position is a reversal of his previous one:

The specter of a strike is an interesting turn of events for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. For years, his administration had fought alongside the union to keep the seniority-based protections in the contracts, in part because removing them could have prompted the union to strike. In July, however, the city made an about-face, asking Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to veto a bill it had helped develop that would have extended the protections to bus contracts for preschool students who receive special education services. 

Mr. Cuomo did just that in September, citing a decision by the State Court of Appeals that including such protections drives up cost and drives away competition. (The protections are part of the contracts, which expire in December 2012, that govern the transportation of about 138,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.) 

In a news conference at City Hall on Friday, Mr. Bloomberg characterized a possible strike as “illegal” and the union’s behavior as “outrageous” based on the court ruling.

See the letter, dated July 11, 2011, from Bloomberg to the Governor, asking him to veto this bill. But as is clear from a CNN article,  the Court of Appeals decision  occurred  in 2008, suggesting that the new legislation passed last year was designed  to supercede the court ruling. And according to Sara Catalinato of Parents to Improve School Transportation (see below) this Employers Protection Provision (EPP), has been in all K-12 busing contracts since 1979; it just didn't yet cover pre-K busing, which the new bill was designed to provide.

The fact that Bloomberg had asked the Governor last summer to veto a bill that would allow him to ensure union protections for pre-K bus drivers in new contracts was conviently omitted from  his most recent message to the public -- as well as most of the news articles -- in which he falsely claimed that seniority protections were something that would be illegal, without mentioning that he had worked to ensure that they remained so. 

It now appears that the city is willing to spend millions to break the bus drivers union, as they have attempted to break the teachers union and the school aides union previously.  This is revealed by the fact that in the midst of huge budget cuts to schools, they have now spent $1.3 million in advance for student Metrocards, daring drivers to strike with winter approaching, even though the existing contract does not lapse until July:

The city’s Education Department spent $1.3 million buying 300,000 MetroCards to give to students who are picked up at bus stops and to parents whose children might need an escort to school because they are disabled or too young to ride the subway on their own. Parents who drive will be reimbursed based on the number of miles traveled, while those who use another type of private transportation can turn in receipts for reimbursement.

Of course, most NYC parents cannot afford to hire private transportation for their disabled children, even with the promise of future reimbursement.

As Sam Pirozzolo of Staten Island writes, “Mayor Bloomberg would rather allow non-union, untrained bus drivers to drive our most vulnerable children to and from school.”   This daring maneuver is reminiscent of Bloomberg’s attack on teacher tenure and seniority, and his push to have new, inexperienced teachers replace seasoned professionals so that he can cut back on education spending even more.

Perhaps since he no longer intends to run for re-election he doesn't fear alienating the unions and/or the public; or perhaps the vicious attacks on unions throughout the country by right wing Governors have unleashed the Tea Party side of Bloomberg. 

Though Walcott’s letter to parents said, “We are deeply concerned about the impact of a strike on your schools and school communities,” they are obviously not concerned enough. Another heedless act by a heedless administration. 

Below is a message from Sara Catalinotto of Parents to Improve School Transportation, who added , “Bottom line: as OWS would say, Bloomberg is the 1%, kids and bus workers are the 99%!”

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The Chancellor's letter home is painting a picture of rogue workers trying to deny our kids a ride to school for no good reason, but our experience has been that it is the DOE's own Office of Pupil Transportation which puts both the children/families and the drivers/escorts in a bad situation every year with route cuts, unnecessarily long rides, and other abuses.  

An Employee Protection Provision is something parents support because we want trained, experienced and decently paid workers handling the youngest children with disabilities.  This EPP has been in the K-12 contracts since 1979; it didn't cover pre-K only because pre-K wasn't universal at the time.  This summer, both houses in Albany passed a bill to extend EPP to pre-Kindergarten and Early Intervention busing, but Cuomo vetoed it at Bloomberg's request (see attached letter).  Nobody wants a strike, but PIST members who I have heard from today are willing to join ATU 1181 picket lines in support of a fair deal for the workers AND the kids.  

We have no reason to trust the DOE to come through with carfare and  Metrocards--these are things parents often ask for in crises caused by OPT mismanagement of busing, which are routinely denied.  It would be hypocritical of Bloomberg's appointees at Tweed to suddenly find the money and staff to figure this out, now that it is a question of opposing advancement of union rights.  We contend that our children need a School Bus Bill of Rights with transportation overseen by those with the most at stake: families, educators and bus workers.

Please contact us again if you want more background documentation on problems with school busing.

Thanks, Sara Catalinotto, pistnyc@gmail.com