Saturday, February 20, 1999
School bus drivers strike
9,500-student district misses day of classes
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — West Clermont school bus drivers took to picket lines early Friday morning, causing school to be canceled for the 9,500 students in the district's 12 schools, which include Amelia and Glen Este highs.
The drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 100, are deadlocked in a contract dispute with their employer, Laidlaw Transit, primarily over wages and proposed changes in health care benefits, said union stew ard and spokeswoman Linda Bloom.
She and more than a dozen other drivers were picketing Friday morning outside the school's transportation center next to Glen Este high and middle schools on Glen Este-Withamsville Road. That's where substitute drivers were mustering to be instructed on routes they may drive Monday morning if the strike continues. Security guards flanked the entrance to the fenced bus compound.
West Clermont schools serve all of Union Township and parts of Pierce and Batavia townships in Clermont County.
Picketing was peaceful. “We're getting a lot of honking horns, thumbs-up signs. The drivers of two other buses — one from New Richmond and one from Forest Hills — passed and (showed) support,” said picket Connie Todd.
Laidlaw General Manager Dale Moser said the company was bringing in “fully trained” substitute drivers from other states in its Midwest region — from far as Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri — to provide service.
Mr. Moser noted the drivers “are substitutes, not replacements. We'd like (the striking drivers) to come back. We want them to come back. Regardless, we will have service resumed by Monday,” Mr. Moser said. He said the company received no notification of the strike authorization until early Friday.
“We made numerous attempts to get back to them to continue talks as we have been inviting them to do. We got no return calls to confirm or deny they wanted to do that,” Mr. Moser said. “They have created a work stoppage.”
The local voted 56-20 Tuesday night to authorize a strike, but it had to wait for approval of the international Teamsters.
The strike also resulted in classes being canceled at St. Thomas More Catholic School in Withamsville, also serviced by West Clermont buses. Two other parochial schools served by West Clermont — St. Veronica in Mount Carmel and St. Bernadette in Amelia — reported no significant drops in attendance Friday with parents bringing their youngsters to school.
West Clermont Local
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