A bill in the New York Legislature is proposing that ignition interlocks be placed on all school buses. The ignition interlock would detect alcohol on the driver’s breath and would refuse to start up if alcohol is detected. This bill was prompted by several accidents involving intoxicated bus drivers in N.Y. within the past year. [...]
Bill to allow Texas bus drivers to discipline students
April 25, 2013
SAN ANTONIO – A bill giving school bus drivers in Texas the power to discipline students by sending them to the principal’s office has passed in the Texas Senate. Although the bill passed the Senate, it still has to pass in the House before it can become law. The Public Education Committee is reviewing the [...]
Civil fines upped for school bus operators
November 29, 2012
Civil penalties for school bus firms operating unsafe equipment have been increased, effective Dec. 27, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The regulation applies to all schools or school systems who own or operate school buses. All school buses, whether in interstate or intrastate operation, must meet the federal standards. The new maximum civil [...]
Buffalo school bus drivers ratify agreement
April 14, 2011
BUFFALO, N.Y. — School bus drivers employed by First Student here and represented by the UTU have ratified a new agreement by a 213-90 vote. The agreement ratified by members of UTU Local 1908 provides for wage increases retroactive to June 2010, no loss of benefits and improvements to a 401k plan. Calvin Studivant, alternate [...]
UTU N.Y. school bus local ratifies agreement
February 18, 2011
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — Members of UTU Local 153 here, employed as school bus drivers by Chestnut Ridge Transportation, have ratified a three-year wage, benefits and work rules agreement. The agreement provides the drivers with wage increases retroactive to Sept. 1, 2010, improvements in personal leave-day policy, training pay, and bereavement leave. UTU negotiators blocked [...]
School bus Local 1741 ratifies new agreement
January 24, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO — First Student school bus drivers here, represented by UTU Local 1741, have ratified a new wage and benefits agreement by a 72 percent majority. “Our strategy was to keep negotiations limited to economics because the work rules in our contract are the standard by which most other school bus drivers measure their [...]
UTU hero school-bus driver avoids fatal crash
December 10, 2010
BUFFALO — UTU-member and Buffalo school bus driver Yolanda Luciano (Local 1908) is being hailed as a hero — likely saving the lives of one or more of the eight elementary-school students aboard her First Student bus by engaging in a split-second emergency defensive driving maneuver on a snowy street the afternoon of Dec. 8. [...]
School-bus violence: We know it too well
October 18, 2010
UTU bus members know the violence aboard school buses all too well. The latest shocking outbreak occurred on Long Island, N.Y., last week, when a 14-year-old boy was beaten aboard a school bus over allegations he is gay, according to Longislandpress.com. The UTU is working with other transportation labor unions and the Transportation Trades Department [...]
UTU Local 1741 opposes school bus cuts
October 11, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO – With the San Francisco Unified School District facing a deficit of $113 million over the next two school years, a decision is looming to cut the number of buses to save money. UTU Local 1741 officer Paul Stein was quick to intervene, telling the San Francisco Examiner newspaper that “any potential cuts [...]
UTU, AFL-CIO tackle school bus driver issues
June 17, 2010
By Bonnie Morr Alternate Vice President-Bus The UTU, other labor unions and the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO are jointly tackling workplace training, discipline and other workplace safety and economic issues on behalf of school bus drivers. Nationwide, school bus drivers face daily challenges in their work, with their employers and with school [...]
