WHITBY– Unifor school bus drivers have voted overwhelmingly in support of a new collective agreement with First Student, with 91% in favour.

“Several of the drivers’ concerns were addressed in this new collective agreement, including wages, paid sick days and improvements to personal leave,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Naureen Rizvi. “School bus drivers bear tremendous responsibility and Unifor will continue to work to raise standards in this industry to reflect that.”

The new three-year collective agreement covers approximately 205 Unifor Local 4268 school bus drivers who provide services in the eastern Greater Toronto Area and Durham Region for DSTS Durham Student Transportation Services, TSTG Toronto Student Transportation Group and other customers.

This new collective agreement includes a 13% raise on basic Home-to-School wages, personal paid leave provisions, an increased health care spending account, improvements on a Woman’s Advocate role, improved posting and bumping provisions, and includes more comprehensive union representative language.

“The Bargaining Committee worked to improve conditions for our school bus driver members in this new agreement to ensure that they are compensated accordingly for their time and duties,” said Unifor Local 4268 President Debbie Montgomery. “Achieving solid collective agreements is the foundation to build on to fix systemic problems across the school bus sector, including recruitment and retention issues.

The contract is backdated to December 8, 2021 and will expire on December 7, 2024.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector and represents 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.