Bus Drivers Approach School Board for Help

Representatives of Ledyard’s school bus drivers attended Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Education to requet the board’s help in persuading Student Transportation of America, which holds the district’s busing contract, to come to the bargaining table.

Bus driver Peg Welles read from a letter submitted to the board that recounted the drivers’ affirmative vote in September to join a union. The 18-16 vote was challenged by STA, but the company’s objections were later overruled by a National Labor Relations Board judge.

Welles said the company has since appealed that decision, preferring to “hire high-priced lawyers,” she said, than to engage in good faith collective bargaining. She called the appeal an expensive delaying tactic.

“The judge found in favor of the drivers, and said there was nothing untoward with the vote,” Welles said. “We are asking the board to be aware of this and to ask STA to come and sit down at the table with us.”

The letter was signed by the drivers.

The town now pays around $1.5 million for student transportation. There are three years remaining on the district’s contract with STA, and the town has the option to rebid the contract.

The current rate Ledyard drivers are paid is based on salaries paid to Groton school bus drivers, who are represented by a union, although not by CSEA/SEIU, the union the Ledyard drivers voted to join.

Last month, Board of Education Business Manager Bill Merrill said the school board throughout has remained neutral on the union decision.

Union spokesman Matt O'Connor said the push toward joining a union gained traction last spring after STA transferred Transportation Manager Laura Skelton from Ledyard to New London. O'Connor said Skelton was a popular manager to whom drivers felt comfortable bringing concerns.

He said drivers also sought the ability to have a voice on safety concerns. “That’s what really got this started in the first place,” he said Wednesday.