Drivers to Vote on Bus Strike

Striking school bus drivers said Friday they will vote this weekend on whether to continue their 17-day walkout or accept the latest proposal from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s transportation contractor, Laidlaw Education Services.

Strikers voted down a previous offer last week, and the negotiating team for Teamsters Union Local 572 is urging a rejection of the latest offer too. Details on the timing and location for the voting had not been settled Friday evening.

Teamsters spokesman Don Owens said Laidlaw’s latest offer is nearly the same as the one rejected last week. The biggest sticking point is the health-care plan, he said.

“If the members vote against this, we stay on strike,” Owens said. “At that point it can be called a strike of attrition.”

Laidlaw executives could not be reached for comment Friday.

The company’s health-benefits package offers coverage only after a year of employment.

Union leaders said they want another health plan used by many other Teamsters locals that would offer coverage sooner and reduce the company’s costs by 20% for each employee enrolled in the plan.

But, according to union officials, Laidlaw executives argued that such a proposal would attract more workers than now buy into the coverage, raising the company’s overall costs.

The union first demanded wage and benefits parity with drivers employed directly by the school district. L.A. Unified drivers make $13 to $24 an hour, while Laidlaw drivers earn $8 to $15 an hour.

In the package rejected by drivers last week, Laidlaw offered an average annual raise of 6.3% over three years, but little in enhanced benefits. Details of the current offer could not be confirmed.

During the strike, L.A. Unified has used smaller bus contractors and its own in-house fleet and drivers as substitutes on Laidlaw routes.

But the walkout continues to cause delays averaging nearly an hour for 20,000 affected students. Athletic events and field trips also have been curtailed because of bus shortages.