A strike by school bus drivers with Campeau Bus Lines will be averted if they vote in favour of a new tentative agreement reached on Thursday.
According to Unifor, a “fair settlement” was reached for the more-than 200 school-bus drivers with Unifor Local 4268 which serve throughout central Ontario.
The key issue was compensation for all hours worked.
Earlier this week, the school-bus drivers had voted 96 per cent in favour of strike action if a deal wasn’t reached by Feb. 19. Cancelled buses would have impacted thousands of students in Peterborough, Peterborough County, Northumberland County, Kawartha Lakes and Durham region.
“I am proud of the hard work of our bargaining committee in reaching a fair settlement for our members driving Campeau school buses,” stated Jerry Dias, Unifor national president. “School-bus drivers are tasked with ensuring the safety of our children, but are often not compensated for all the work performed.”
Unifor says the bargaining committee will be unanimously recommending acceptance of the tentative agreement.
Details of the agreement will not be released until the agreement is presented to members for ratification.
“We believe this deal will incorporate a payment model that reflects the work our members do and include some new standards to be recognized,” said Local 4268 president Debbie Montgomery.
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