July 15, 2020

TORONTO–As Ontario’s leading school bus driver union, Unifor warns that urgent action is needed for wheels to turn on school buses in September. The health and safety of students and school bus drivers must be a key priority as the Ontario government and school boards work to develop plans to return to an in-school setting.

“This situation must be addressed before there can be a return to school in September. A full re-opening, whether the provincial state of emergency is lifted or not, is at jeopardy,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce has said, “all stakeholders” are important to the re-opening of the school system but engagement with the drivers of school buses, an often forgotten but integral part of the school day, has been minimal.

“School bus drivers are critical to student transportation and doing it in a safe manner with new protocols in place is of the highest concerns for these workers,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Naureen Rizvi.

School buses are not designed the same as transit buses. Busses carry up to 72 primary students with just one passenger access located directly beside the driver. Seats are designed in compartments with multiple students to a seat separated by a narrow aisle from students across. In many instances, the same bus serves multiple schools on the same route. Additionally, special needs passengers often require drivers working very closely with riders.

Many drivers are retirees and possible exposure to COVID-19 without proper training, social distancing regulations, and regular sanitization of the buses may prevent them from being able to run their routes. The situation is worsened by the fact that many drivers have not received their scheduled retention payments, forcing them to look for other work. With the risk of fewer drivers returning, combined with social distancing potentially facilitating the need for additional buses and drivers, Unifor warns of a looming shortage without immediate intervention by the Ford government.

The Ontario government has failed to make driver retention bonus cheques available to qualifying school bus drivers from 2019. This payment was to give drivers with near perfect attendance a payout of $1000 per program duration but the Ford government has yet to make the payment to school bus drivers for the period of September 2019 thru December 2019, with payment due in March 2020. The next payment period, which ran from January 2020 thru to June 2020, was interrupted when schools closed in March. The program administrators have not communicated to the drivers if they will receive payment for this period.

Many school bus drivers in the province rely on the Driver Retention Program (DRP) to help make ends meet. Without it, some may leave the industry contributing to an increased shortage of school bus drivers come September. Unifor is calling on Premier Doug Ford to commit that the drivers will receive full payment for the program.

“Unifor is asking these questions on behalf of our members and the thousands of non-union school bus drivers in the province,” said Debbie Montgomery, President of Unifor Local 4268. “A serious discussion must be had with school bus drivers, as partners in education, about what September will look like and whether their safety will be prioritized.”

If there is one thing all workers have in common, it is the frenzied nature of our working lives and the need for better work life balance.

The four-day workweek has been gaining traction during the pandemic as governments begin to think about how to distribute work more fairly and improve workers’ lives.

Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand recently suggested employers should move to a four-day workweek to enhance leisure time and give the battered tourism industry a boost.

In Unifor’s #BuildBackBetter road map, the union encourages governments to make this a reality for workers in a way that alleviates stress and ensures income protection. The road map shows, it’s important to be clear about what kind of four-day workweek we’re pushing for, and what kind of changes will lead to better work life balance.

We must reduce hours overall, not simply compress the same number of hours into a more stressful workday. And this must be done while ensuring that workers do not face a pay cut.

Shinade Allder, President of Local 6005, pushed for this change in Unifor’s #BuildBackBetter media conference, saying, “The harsh reality is that many workers in Canada are working as many hours as they can, simply to keep afloat.”

Canada’s workers need more paid vacation time and sick leave, fair scheduling and higher hourly pay.

“This crisis has thrown workers’ personal priorities into view, and while it has added stress and financial challenges, it has meant that many workers have spent more time with direct family, and in their homes,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Working families need government and employers to setup structures that support full lives, by rebalancing pay scales, and exploring a 4-day workweek.”

Unifor has seven recommendations to improve the income security system. 

They include: 

• a minimum wage of at least $15 and tied to 60% of the median hourly wage for full-time workers;
• stronger employment standards and labour legislation to provide stability for workers to ensure everyone is covered;
• permanent changes to the EI program to expand eligibility, access and benefits;
• facilitating more leisure time and work life balance in the lives of workers;
• rolling out the Canada Housing Benefit across the country;
• promoting retirement security; and
• designing an income security system, using the CERB as the new income floor, that ensures no individual or family lives with an income under this benchmark.