The Department of Education announced that it has received 67 bids from school bus companies wanting to win contracts to transport city school children. Monday was the deadline for bids, according to NY1.
Bus drivers of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 have been on strike since Jan. 16 to ensure that all new contracts include Employee Protection Provisions, to protect senior drivers from losing their jobs.
Three bus companies have also filed a new lawsuit against the city because the bids for new contracts do not include EPPs, it is illegal for the city to continue working from ongoing contracts that keep the protections.
City officials have said that the protections that the union wants are illegal. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has stated that the bus drivers and matrons need to negotiate directly with the companies that hire them.
