Eastern Ontario bus drivers say they’ve been locked out before back to school

In quick succession, contract talks for more than 600 school bus drivers in eastern Ontario have gone from friendly to deadlocked.

Now, the bus drivers say they’ve been locked out, and the company that brokers their contracts is looking for replacements before the impending school year.

According to the Eastern Ontario Bus Operators, which represents 620 bus drivers who service the Upper Canada District School Board and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, after contract negotiations came to a standstill earlier this week, bus operators received the news Wednesday they had been locked out.

Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario (STEO), the not-for-profit that organizes the deals between the two school boards and bus drivers, has yet to confirm the lockout. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a news release sent out on Monday, the STEO said the two parties were “very far apart” and warned that there might be service disruptions come September after the bus operators rejected a deal that offered raises that surpassed inflation.

A statement from the bus operators sent out Tuesday said the STEO offered an ultimatum, which was not accepted, but that the bus drivers wanted to take the matter to mediation.

Then, Wednesday evening, the bus operators said they were locked out and that the STEO was looking for other drivers to fill the routes.

“In another shocking move, STEO has also issued a tender in a desperate search for outside companies to take over the routes now being serviced safely and efficiently by long-standing local drivers and operators,” a statement from the bus operators said.

The Eastern Ontario Bus Operators says currently, drivers make around $19 an hour, and that their drivers have been “underpaid” for years.

It also noted that the process of finding more than 600 new drivers for a very large geographical area could take months, meaning many parents will be without buses come back to school next month.

-More information to come. 

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