A strike by school bus drivers servicing approximately 10,000 students across Durham region and parts of Toronto has been averted after the union representing them reached a last-minute, tentative deal with busing company First Student Canada.
Last Friday, Local 4268 served the company with a strike notice that would go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday if a contract dispute was not resolved.
The deal means students at more than 100 schools in Durham region and nine schools in Toronto won't need to look for another way to get to class.
Details will be released after a ratification vote to be held in the coming days.
Durham Student Transportation Services said in a news release that all routes serviced by First Student Ajax and First Student Brooklin will continue as usual.
"DSTS will continue to monitor First Student and Unifor negotiations," the release said. "Should there be any updates regarding the tentative agreement, parents/guardians will be notified by automated call and letter notification from the school."
Unifor Ontario regional director Naureen Rizvi had said Friday that the union and its 260 drivers hoped to reach a "fair deal" with the company.
Under the previous contract, drivers are only paid from the point they pick up the first student to the moment they drop off the last child off and were unpaid for time in between for travelling from home to the first pick-up or performing vehicle maintenance.
"When you count up all the hours worked and the pay they receive, they are working for less than minimum wage," Rizvi said in a statement.
"It's a full time commitment for part time pay."
Unifor Local 4268 president Debbie Montgomery said the unpaid hours makes it difficult for bus companies to recruit new drivers, which leads to shortages like one that affected Toronto school boards last year.
"The best way to recruit new drivers is to treat them fairly," Montgomery said.
"We love driving buses, and deserve to be paid for all the hours we work. That's only fair."
A walkout would have impacted students within the Durham Public District School Board and at the Durham Catholic School Board in Ajax, Brock, Oshawa, Pickering, Scugog, Uxbridge and Whitby plus a number of students in east-end Toronto.
