Bus driver strike avoided after union, First Student announce tentative agreement

PROVIDENCE – A strike that would have taken 275 Rhode Island bus drivers, monitors and aides off the job beginning Wednesday was narrowly avoided, with the labor union and bus company announcing a new, tentative agreement.

The proposed contract between Service Employees International Union 1199 New England and First Student Inc. comes after months of failed negotiations over minimum hours and “economic self-sufficiency” for First Student workers, according to SEIU.

The tentative four-year agreement increases the minimum guaranteed hours and wages, although the amount of the increase for each was not specified, and SEIU representatives did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment.

Currently, First Student bus drivers are guaranteed a 20-hour work week but wanted a minimum of 30 hours under the new contract, PBN previously reported.

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First Student is a private bus contractor that serves public schools in Cranston, Lincoln and West Warwick, as well as private and specialty schools statewide. If union workers had gone on strike on Wednesday as previously planned, nearly 1,000 public school students spanning 79 bus routes could have been affected, according to the R.I. Department of Education.

The tentative agreement must still be ratified by the union workers.

Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.