PROVIDENCE – A new contract agreement has been reached between the local union that represents school bus drivers in the city and First Student Inc., giving the drivers increases in pay and benefits and also averts a potential strike.
Teamsters Local 251 Principal Officer Matthew Taibi confirmed Wednesday to Providence Business News that the union, which represents more than 250 city school bus drivers, agreed to a new four-year contract retroactive to July 1, 2022. The new deal runs through June 30, 2026.
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Taibi said the new contract includes a top pay rate of $37 per hour by the contract’s conclusion. The top pay retroactive to last July goes to $30.60 per hour. The previous top rate was $28.85 per hour, he said.
For retirement plans, First Student maintained the Teamsters Investments and Savings Plan. Contributions to that plan increased from $1 per hour to $2 per hour over the life of the agreement, Taibi said.
With health care, First Student will now contribute 92.5% of health care costs across all bus driver tiers in the new contract, Taibi said, up from 90%.
Taibi said that prior to March 4, First Student gave its “last, best and final” offer to Local 251, which was rejected “overwhelmingly” by members. Originally, the drivers were slated to go on strike on March 6, he said, but opted to delay going un strike until Wednesday to allow the union to offer a counteroffer to First Student and a chance to respond.
Then, First Student gave Local 251 another final offer, which “still did not reach” what the union wanted and rejected it late Tuesday, Taibi said. However, Taibi said the union suggested some changes to the contract proposal and would accept it if First Student agreed to it.
Taibi said those changes were made and the union gave unanimous approval to the deal.
First Student representatives did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment.
Had the drivers gone on strike, about 8,500 students and their families within the Providence Public School District – the state’s largest school district – would have had to find their own transportation to school. On March 6, Gov. Daniel J. McKee, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, R.I. Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green and Providence School Superintendent Javier Montañez in a joint statement called for both sides to come to an agreement, noting a strike would have been “not acceptable and it is avoidable.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
