The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) are warning parents that a possible bus driver strike could impact thousands of students in the coming weeks.
A letter sent home with students on Monday said the union representing First Student Markham is in a legal strike position and could walk off the job next month if a labour agreement isn’t reached by Nov. 3.
School officials have been advised the union would have to give 72 hours notice before beginning any job action.
“While there is no indication of any plan to strike at this time, the union is within their rights to do so,” TCDSB spokesman John W. Yan said. “They have advised that if a new agreement is not reached by 12:01 am on Nov. 3, they will proceed with strike action.”
A possible strike could affect nearly 2,500 TDSB and 6,000 TCDSB students.
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Board officials said the First Student bus company management and Unifor Local 4268 have negotiation sessions planned up to and including the strike deadline.
“First Student remains fully focused on reaching an agreement that is mutually beneficial and provides continuous service to the Toronto Catholic and Toronto District School Boards,” First Student spokesperson Jen Biddinger said in an email statement.
“In order to continue to negotiate in good faith, we are not discussing the specifics of those talks publicly.”
If job action is taken, the school boards said the Markham division will not service routes in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) nor will drivers be replaced.
Schools will also not be able to contract out another bus company to service the routes.
A possible transportation disruption comes after school boards dealt with a shortage of bus drivers in the GTA in September which board officials said had only just recently begun to return to normal service.
-Cindy Pom contributed to this report
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