Res 0797-2015

By Council Members Miller, Eugene, Mendez and Rose Whereas, The New York City Department of Education's Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) is the largest school transportation department in the country; and Whereas, Almost the entire transportation budget is spent on contracts with private vendors that provide busing services; and Whereas, School-bus drivers and matrons are hired by these companies, not by the City; and Whereas, A 1979 agreement negotiated between Local 1181 Amalgamated Transit Union and the DOE (after New York City bus drives and escorts went on strike) produced the Employee Protection Provisions (EPP); and Whereas, The EPP applies to K-12 transportation and requires the DOE to maintain a seniority list of drivers, escorts and mechanics; and Whereas, Bus companies who win bids must hire from this list in order of seniority and maintain the workers' wages and pensions even if moving between bus companies; and Whereas, In 2013, under the Bloomberg Administration, new Requests for Bids (RFB) went out for bus companies and did not include the EPP; and Whereas, Bus drivers and matrons went on strike in early 2013 over this issue but returned to work without a settlement; and Whereas, When contracts were awarded under the new bids a number of employees lost their jobs; and Whereas, In December of 2013, Local 1181 voted not to accept a new scaled down contract from the City's largest school bus contractor, Atlantic Express, which then subsequently announced it was going out of business; and Whereas, Additionally, according to Local 1181, the removal of EPP from school busing contracts could create a deficiency in pension funds for current and retired workers due to a loss of contributions; and Whereas, Furthermore, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 553, which represents a portion of New York City's school bus workers, similarly supports restoration of the EPP; and Whereas, School buses transport some of the City's youngest and most vulnerable students and should have the most experienced and professional employees available; and Whereas, Numerous parents and workers believe that those providing these transport services should be treated fairly and in accordance with established employee protections provisions; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls Resolution calling upon the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to include the Employee Protection Provisions (EPP) in all current and future school bus contracts. LS 1221 8/13/15 JP/JA 2