Tuesday, March 26, 2013

School Bus Drivers Are the Bad Guys of New York City

Sure seems to be the tone my newspaper has taken:

"SCHOOL BUS STRIKE -- Demonstrators walked a picket line at a bus depot in New York City on Thursday. The city's first school bus strike in 34 years was in its second day, and tens of thousands of parents scrambled to get their kids to school. The strike pits the city's need to rein costs against the bus drivers' effort to preserve their jobs (Boston Globe January 18 2013)."

And if I hadn't bought a printed Boston Globe I would never have known that because all I ever saw was a photograph  -- until it ended:

"School bus drivers to end walkout

NEW YORK — The monthlong school bus strike that affected tens of thousands of children in the nation’s largest school district ended Friday when union leaders were assured by prospective New York City mayoral candidates that their concerns would be heard after this year’s election. Leaders of the Amalgamated Transit Union said service for New York City schools would resume Wednesday, when classes resume after a midwinter recess."

What, they have a problem with Bloomberg? 

And look what those damn union folk (never mind Wall Street looters) cost you:

"New York spent $20.6m on travel in school bus strike" Associated Press, February 19, 2013

NEW YORK — The city spent roughly $20.6 million in transit cards, taxis, and gas mileage to get tens of thousands of stranded students to school during the monthlong bus strike, but some still didn’t get there, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said Monday.

The 7,700 or so bus routes that serve the nation’s largest school district will resume Wednesday following mid-winter recess, but routes for nonpublic schools will start Tuesday, Walcott said.

The Amalgamated Transit Union ended its walkout on Friday after union leaders were assured by prospective New York City mayoral candidates that their concerns about job protection would be heard after this year’s election. They went on strike Jan. 16.

‘‘We are glad to welcome back the local 1181 drivers and matrons,’’ Walcott said. ‘‘Their children have missed them . . . and we need them back so our children can get to school.’’

Walcott estimated the city saved $80 million because it wasn’t paying bus companies during the strike, which started over job protection issues. Local 1181 of the ATU wanted the city to include protections for current employees in future contracts with bus companies, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a court ruling prohibited the city from doing so.

Just 152,000 of New York City’s 1.1 million public schoolchildren ride school buses, but many are disabled. 

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