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| School Bus Drivers’ Union in New York Ends a Strike | School Bus Drivers’ Union in New York Ends a Strike |
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| The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections. | The main union for New York City’s school bus drivers ended its monthlong strike Friday, handing a victory to the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to give in to the union’s demands for job protections. |
| Considering the toll the strike had taken on drivers, who spent the past four weeks picketing in freezing weather while losing income and health benefits, officials of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said they would try their luck with the next mayor. Several of the Democratic mayoral candidates have said they would favor the job protections. | Considering the toll the strike had taken on drivers, who spent the past four weeks picketing in freezing weather while losing income and health benefits, officials of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said they would try their luck with the next mayor. Several of the Democratic mayoral candidates have said they would favor the job protections. |
| “This fight is far from over,” said Local 1181’s president, Michael Cordiello, as he delivered the news to drivers in a conference call on Friday night. “We will continue to keep political pressure on the politicians, notably the still current mayor, but politicians in the future to make sure they stay up-to-date on our issues and also to go to Albany to work on some legislation if we can do that.” | |
| All buses will be rolling when public schools resume classes on Wednesday next week, which was originally a holiday week but was changed because of school days lost to Hurricane Sandy. | All buses will be rolling when public schools resume classes on Wednesday next week, which was originally a holiday week but was changed because of school days lost to Hurricane Sandy. |
| The strike affected more than 100,000 students, tens of thousands of them children with special needs, who often travel long distances to get to the schools. Attendance has been down sharply at special-education programs, with many students staying home during the strike. | The strike affected more than 100,000 students, tens of thousands of them children with special needs, who often travel long distances to get to the schools. Attendance has been down sharply at special-education programs, with many students staying home during the strike. |
| The job action also became a hardship for the drivers. They stood in the cold in far corners of the city, watching in some cases as replacement workers did their jobs. Their health coverage ran out on Feb. 1, and they were earning only $150 to $300 a week from union strike funds. | |
| One driver, Everest Jones, 51, a single parent of two teenagers who lives in Brooklyn, said that the strike was hard but that he felt he had made as much of a stand as he could for the protections he still hoped for. | One driver, Everest Jones, 51, a single parent of two teenagers who lives in Brooklyn, said that the strike was hard but that he felt he had made as much of a stand as he could for the protections he still hoped for. |
| “We all want to go back to work,” he said. | “We all want to go back to work,” he said. |
| Mr. Jones makes top pay for a driver, nearly $29 an hour, but said that even if he were able to keep driving a school bus, his pay could be slashed in half. He has been a bus driver for 17 years, and drives 13 blind children in the Bronx, 7 in wheelchairs, none of whom have been going to school during the strike, he said. | Mr. Jones makes top pay for a driver, nearly $29 an hour, but said that even if he were able to keep driving a school bus, his pay could be slashed in half. He has been a bus driver for 17 years, and drives 13 blind children in the Bronx, 7 in wheelchairs, none of whom have been going to school during the strike, he said. |
| Michael R. Bloomberg’s standoff with the union was a singular moment in his mayoralty. Mr. Bloomberg, whose administration granted many of the city’s unionized workers sizable raises during his first two terms, is not known for harsh confrontations with organized labor, at times to the dismay of conservative fiscal watchdogs. But he told aides that he deeply regretted his failure to rein in the ballooning costs of transporting the city’s schoolchildren, now more than $1 billion a year, and feared that none of his successors could stomach the political fallout of an election-year battle with the workers. | Michael R. Bloomberg’s standoff with the union was a singular moment in his mayoralty. Mr. Bloomberg, whose administration granted many of the city’s unionized workers sizable raises during his first two terms, is not known for harsh confrontations with organized labor, at times to the dismay of conservative fiscal watchdogs. But he told aides that he deeply regretted his failure to rein in the ballooning costs of transporting the city’s schoolchildren, now more than $1 billion a year, and feared that none of his successors could stomach the political fallout of an election-year battle with the workers. |
| As the strike dragged out, the mayor’s determination to defeat the union only intensified. By Thursday, sensing victory, he called the strike “a lost cause” even as Democratic lawmakers expressed support for the workers. | As the strike dragged out, the mayor’s determination to defeat the union only intensified. By Thursday, sensing victory, he called the strike “a lost cause” even as Democratic lawmakers expressed support for the workers. |
| “We appreciate the hard work our bus drivers and matrons do, and we welcome them back to the job,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement Friday night. “In the city’s entire history, the special interests have never had less power than they do today, and the end of this strike reflects the fact that when we say we put children first, we mean it.” | “We appreciate the hard work our bus drivers and matrons do, and we welcome them back to the job,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement Friday night. “In the city’s entire history, the special interests have never had less power than they do today, and the end of this strike reflects the fact that when we say we put children first, we mean it.” |
| The strike began over the mayor’s decision to begin stripping employee protections from contracts the city signed with the private companies that run the buses. Traditionally, companies winning contracts for new routes were required to hire available drivers in order of seniority, but the city argued that a Court of Appeals decision in a lawsuit brought by several bus companies forbade the city from including the requirement in contracts. The union argued that the city was misreading the decision in order to break the union. The city refused to negotiate, saying the matter was between the union and the private companies. | The strike began over the mayor’s decision to begin stripping employee protections from contracts the city signed with the private companies that run the buses. Traditionally, companies winning contracts for new routes were required to hire available drivers in order of seniority, but the city argued that a Court of Appeals decision in a lawsuit brought by several bus companies forbade the city from including the requirement in contracts. The union argued that the city was misreading the decision in order to break the union. The city refused to negotiate, saying the matter was between the union and the private companies. |
| The last strike, a three-month walkout in 1979, had a different result. That action inflicted such difficulty on schoolchildren and their families that Frank J. Macchiarola, the schools chancellor at the time, approached Mayor Edward I. Koch seeking a way out that, in turn, led to the birth of the job protections, known as employee protection provisions, that are currently at issue. | The last strike, a three-month walkout in 1979, had a different result. That action inflicted such difficulty on schoolchildren and their families that Frank J. Macchiarola, the schools chancellor at the time, approached Mayor Edward I. Koch seeking a way out that, in turn, led to the birth of the job protections, known as employee protection provisions, that are currently at issue. |
| About 5,000 of the city’s 7,700 routes were affected by the strike. The others were staffed by nonunion drivers, or those from other unions. | |
| Several Democratic candidates hoping to succeed Mr. Bloomberg signed a letter late on Thursday siding with the union and urging an end to the strike. | Several Democratic candidates hoping to succeed Mr. Bloomberg signed a letter late on Thursday siding with the union and urging an end to the strike. |
| “It gives us great confidence that the next mayor of this city will be far more sympathetic to the working conditions of the drivers, matrons and mechanics that make up Local 1181,” Mr. Cordiello said in a statement Friday. (Joseph J. Lhota, a Republican candidate for mayor, issued a statement Friday backing Mr. Bloomberg.) | |
| The mayor, the union leader said, “has put the children, especially those who need the safety and experience that our membership provides the most, at risk.” | The mayor, the union leader said, “has put the children, especially those who need the safety and experience that our membership provides the most, at risk.” |
| The city gave out free MetroCards to students and parents affected by the strike, and has reimbursed them for cab fare or car mileage. Still, it has been hard for many parents, like Nadine Bennett, who on Friday afternoon was picking up her 8-year-old son, Shamor, who has autism, from Public School 141 in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. | The city gave out free MetroCards to students and parents affected by the strike, and has reimbursed them for cab fare or car mileage. Still, it has been hard for many parents, like Nadine Bennett, who on Friday afternoon was picking up her 8-year-old son, Shamor, who has autism, from Public School 141 in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. |
| Ms. Bennett works at a Starbucks in Midtown Manhattan, and she said she had to take off one month from work on personal leave. “I had to take a leave just for this,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.” | Ms. Bennett works at a Starbucks in Midtown Manhattan, and she said she had to take off one month from work on personal leave. “I had to take a leave just for this,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.” |
| Tritia Denaro, whose two sons are usually bused from home in Windsor Terrace to two schools in Brooklyn, said she and her husband had to take time off from work to pick them up from school. After several days, they realized they could not keep leaving work early. They tried a variety of solutions — taking turns every other day, for example — but could not make it work. | Tritia Denaro, whose two sons are usually bused from home in Windsor Terrace to two schools in Brooklyn, said she and her husband had to take time off from work to pick them up from school. After several days, they realized they could not keep leaving work early. They tried a variety of solutions — taking turns every other day, for example — but could not make it work. |
Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Randy Leonard, Eli Rosenberg and Vivian Yee. | Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Randy Leonard, Eli Rosenberg and Vivian Yee. |