Thursday, February 25, 1999
Bus drivers to return today
Union rep calls pact 'good raise'
BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — West Clermont School District's 87 bus drivers will be back behind the wheel today.
Laidlaw Transit officials, bus drivers and Teamsters 100 Local representatives reached an agreement Wednesday night after 11 hours of negotiation.
“Yes! We're back to work (today),” said union steward Linda Bloom, as she left a conference room at the Eastgate Holiday Inn shortly before 9 p.m.
No details about the agreement were released, pending a ratification vote at the Teamsters Local 100 office in Evendale. That vote is scheduled for Monday evening. The drivers, on strike since Friday, were demanding higher wages and improved benefits.
“We think it's a good agreement for both parties,” said Bill Wright, a union representative. “It's a good raise for all the drivers — good, solid benefits.”
Dale Moser, Laidlaw area general manager, said his company was glad the drivers are headed back to work.
After the settlement was announced, Ms. Bloom and six other drivers headed to the phones at the Holiday Inn to ready colleagues.
Connie Todd, another driver, said she was relieved to be returning to work. “It's been very laborious ... but it's been worth it.”
The district has contracted for its transportation service for five years with Laidlaw, which serves several Cincinnati-area school districts. Its West Clermont contract expires in July.
The district has nearly 10,000 students at 12 schools, including Glen Este and Amelia high schools.
Starting salary for West Clermont drivers, Ms. Bloom said, was $9.22 per hour. Starting hourly salaries in the surrounding districts range from $10.89 in Bethel to $12.61 in Forest Hills. In Batavia, which is also han dled by Laidlaw, starting salary is $11.48 per hour.
Ms. Bloom said the union was seeking:
• A 75-cents-an-hour increase in each year of a proposed three-year contract.
• Retention of the existing health-care plan, which provides for a $5 fee for all prescriptions.
Earlier, Mr. Moser said the company countered with a four-year proposal calling for a 75-cent increase in its first year and 50 cents in each of the remaining years — average increases ranging from 7.6 percent to 4.3 percent. He said the health care plan had been discontinued.
Meanwhile, for the third straight day Wednesday, students were transported by substitute drivers brought in by Laidlaw from a half-dozen states, including Ohio.
There were about a dozen pickets Wednesday afternoon at the entrance to the West Clermont bus depot at Glen Este High. That was about half the number who picketed earlier this week.
Reporter Tom O'Neill contributed to this story.
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