School Bus Strike Possible, District Warns

The Los Angeles Unified School District warned Monday of a possible school bus drivers’ strike this week, which could delay service and disrupt schedules for as many as 20,000 students.

The Teamsters Union and Laidlaw Education Services, the district’s main bus contractor, have been negotiating salary and benefit issues since August. After they reached an impasse in February, federal mediators stepped in but have failed to resolve the dispute.

Union officials complained Monday that their drivers make half as much as drivers employed by the district, and said they are seeking 5% increases in pay for each of the next three years. They also are seeking better health and retirement benefits.

“We want a living wage,” said Lonnie Holmes, business representative for Teamsters Local 572.

He said the union has no immediate strike plans. But district officials believed the union’s threats to walk out were credible enough to send letters last week informing parents that a bus strike could be imminent.

The letter warns that “some buses will have to make separate trips and your child’s bus may run late.”

Laidlaw officials declined to comment in detail on the negotiations, saying only that they had put their “best and final” offer on the table in February. Holmes said that offer was rejected.

Under the district’s contingency plan, buses could be delayed by as much as 90 minutes while district drivers and other contractors double back to pick up extra kids, said schools Transportation Branch Director Antonio A. Rodriguez.

If there is a strike, many students would be late for school, and field trips, athletic events and after-school activities might be curtailed, Rodriguez said. Students might also leave school later than usual.

Rodriguez, who could not recall a bus drivers’ strike in his 11 years with the district, said he did not know how much money the district would have to pay for increased overtime to carry Laidlaw’s load.

District officials expect that many parents will drive their children to school and that older students will use city buses and trains.

School board member David Tokofsky said he is concerned that because district bus dispatchers, who handle all bus traffic, also are members of Local 572, their services might be affected by a strike.

Nearly 10% of district students are bused. Many are among the most severely handicapped special education students. Other children are bused under desegregation plans to magnet schools and other campuses with enough space for out-of-area students.

Laidlaw handles about a third of the district’s bus routes.

“We’re really the innocent bystander in all of this,” Rodriguez said. The district is not involved in labor negotiations and is prohibited from taking sides, he said.

Although Laidlaw contracts with many school districts in the region and has other dealings with Teamsters drivers, the negotiations affect only Los Angeles Unified buses, Laidlaw Vice President Jim Ferraro said.

Laidlaw is the nation’s largest school bus operator, running 30,000 routes every day. Los Angeles Unified is one of the Burlington, Canada, company’s biggest contracts, Ferraro said.

Hasan Ikhrata, manager of transportation planning for the Southern California Assn. of Governments, said the effect of such a strike on Los Angeles roads and public transit would be limited and possibly imperceptible.