Union, School Bus Company Avoid Looming Strike In Westchester
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Parents and school officials in Westchester County can breathe a sigh of relief now that a local school bus drivers union and the Mile Square School Bus company have come to a contract agreement that will avoid an approved strike.
Less than 48 hours before Transport Workers Union Local 100 members were to walk off the job at Mile Square, the union and the company reached a tentative deal that was supported unanimously by the negotiating committee, the union said on Saturday.
The union said the 550 Mile Square workers it represents had been without a contract and without a raise for the last five years.
On Thursday, union members voted to approve a strike beginning Monday, rather than consider the company's "last and final" offer.
The TWU Local 100 Executive Board held an emergency session on Friday to authorize the strike. It was approved 38-0.
A TWU Local 100 official told CBS 2 that the owner of Mile Square, Harry Rodriguez, had reached out to TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen and Administrative Vice President Angel Giboyeaux early Saturday morning and requested new negotiations, hoping to avoid a strike.
The two sides met at the union's satellite office on Saw Mill River Rd. in Yonkers for several hours before reaching an agreement around noon.
Mile Square transports all bused students to the Mount Vernon schools and about half the students in New Rochelle and Yonkers.
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