The union representing Gilroy school bus drivers will file a
second grievance against the district’s transportation supervisor
for cutting hours without negotiating and missing deadlines crucial
to determining drivers’ earnings.
Gilroy
The union representing Gilroy school bus drivers will file a second grievance against the district’s transportation supervisor for cutting hours without negotiating and missing deadlines crucial to determining drivers’ earnings.
About 15 drivers – hands resting on their colleagues’ shoulders for support and encouragement – took the podium at the Feb. 26 board meeting in front of trustees, their supervisor and Superintendent Deborah Flores to enumerate their concerns with the management of the transportation department. This address prompted a private meeting with Flores days later.
The drivers and their union representative allege that Transportation Supervisor Emil Frates failed to follow proper protocol during the rebidding process – a procedure that is supposed to allow drivers to bid on new routes when they open up, drivers said – by missing the deadline to inform drivers of the new routes.
Drivers also alleged that Frates cut hours from their routes without first negotiating with their union.
The January departure of a senior driver opened up a desirable route which should have warranted a rebid soon afterward, said Rhonda Roascio, a bus driver in her 10th year with the district.
Two months and one grievance filing later, the drivers are just now receiving their bid sheets and plan to rebid on their routes next week.
However, the drivers received their bid sheets after the deadline and with amended routes that included fewer hours, said April Flint, a labor relations representative for the district’s California School Employees Association. Several drivers had as many as 10 hours per week cut.
Flint planned to file a second grievance with the school district this morning.
“We’re coming back and we’re not happy,” Flint said.
The delay has kept some drivers from bidding on better routes that could bring them a few more hours. Not a single bus driver earned more than $40,000 annually according to the district’s employee salary information and only 14 out of 34 made over $30,000. Few worked a full 40-hour work week.
“We’re fighting for our livelihood here,” Roascio said.
In addition, at the board meeting, Roascio complained of poor communication between Frates and employees.
“We have some major concerns in our department beginning with the lack of communication between staff and supervisor” Roascio told trustees. “The supervisor has an open door policy. He likes to talk one on one with each driver but as the old telephone game goes, by the time you get to the last driver, the whole story has changed.”
Furthermore, bus drivers said these concerns fell on deaf ears at the district.
“On Feb. 24 … I met with the deputy superintendent, HR director and supervisor of transportation,” Flint said. “They said our concerns were unfounded and what we had to say was incorrect. (Our union) wants to work with the district. The drivers want a good relationship with their supervisor. This is made difficult when a district administrator states ‘If the drivers are unhappy, they can go find work somewhere else.'”
All this spurred Flores to apologize on the district’s behalf and schedule a meeting with bus drivers for last Tuesday.
“That is not the attitude of the district,” Flores said. “The words may have been spoken but the intent was not there.”
Having spent a few summers behind the wheel of a school bus when she was younger, Flores commiserated with the drivers: “It was one of the most difficult tasks of my life,” she said, adding that the administrator whose words offended the drivers plans to apologize.
Tuesday, at an hour-long discussion between Flores and about 30 drivers – other district administrators were not included – Flores said she made it clear that she was there to listen and took about five pages of notes.
“We’re very optimistic about Superintendent Flores taking the time to just meet with us one on one,” Roascio said. “She was awesome.”
As the district and bus drivers move forward, they will discuss the possibility of charging Gilroy’s 1,200 bus riders an average of $1.50 per day due to budget cuts in addition to the concerns raised by drivers.
They will also talk about whether additional programs – such as the YMCA, with which drivers have contracted in previous summers – could bring drivers more hours.
The next step is for Flores to organize her notes and meet with Frates to discuss the drivers’ concerns, Flores said. Frates, who said he is looking forward to hearing his drivers’ concerns, referred all comments to Flores.
Whatever the outcome, Flores promised that drivers would be treated as they should be – with respect.
“Our bus drivers have a critical role in this district,” Flores said. “They are the first and last people some of our students see and they take their jobs very seriously.”
