Brick Schools' Bus Drivers, Support Staff, Granted Pay Raises In Agreement

After months of negotiations, the Brick Township Board of Education and its Transport Workers Union have agreed to contract terms that grant wage increases to salaries that have been blasted as the lowest in Ocean County.

The five-year pact -- retroactive to July 1, 2014 and covering through June 30, 2019 -- also limits number of part-time drivers the district can hire, lays out rules for filling long-term vacancies due to illness or other issues, while giving the board the authority to set competitive rates for substitute bus drivers.

It also provides an incentive to drivers for perfect attendance -- an issue that has been a significant source of conflict between the district and the union for more than a year.

The memorandum of agreement was approved unanimously by the board members present Thursday night -- only board member Michael Conti was absent -- with the board having to invoke the doctrine of necessity to do so, because of board member conflicts that affect everyone but Karyn Cusanelli and Susan Suter.

That agreement includes the following increases in the the base wage figure - the total of all salaries covered by the TWU contract:

• 6 percent retroactive to July 1.
• 5 percent for the 2016-17 school year
• 4.75 percent for 2017-18
• 4.5 percent for 2018-19.

The 2014-15 year received no increase.

Cumulatively, the increase to the wage base amounts to 21 percent over what those employees were paid in 2014-15.

In the spring, bus drivers outraged over a plan to layoff 31 drivers said the district’s wages for drivers were the lowest in Ocean County, with drivers at the bottom of the scale making $14.51 per hour, and drivers with the most seniority barely cracking $40,000.

Paul Kalac, the special labor attorney hired by the district to complete negotiations with the TWU after former board member John Talty was forced to withdraw from the committee due to health issues, said little as the memorandum of agreement was put before the board Thursday night.

Previously, when the agreements for both administrators and the teaching staff were presented, Kalac laid out the increases and explained that the increase to the wage base meant that some employees would receive higher raises than the percentage announced, while others would receive less.

John Menshon, president of the TWU, thanked the board for reaching the agreement, and said he hoped that other issues could be resolved quickly -- referring to the union’s ongoing battle over the layoffs and changes that resulted from the initial layoff plan. District officials have said that just two people ultimately were laid off, but Menshon in September conversation with the Patch said some drivers were reduced to part-time status and stripped of benefits.

The agreement to allow the school board to set rates for substitute bus drivers had been contentious as well, with Talty saying on multiple occasions that having a rate for substitutes locked into the contract handcuffed the board and left it unable to cope with illnesses -- a situation that had led Brick to use what were referred to as covers -- gaps in drivers’ schedules that allowed them to “cover” another driver’s run if that person was absent.

In restructuring the district’s transportation set-up that occurred over the summer, cover runs were eliminated.

At the same time, a seniority rule instituted in the agreement will give drivers already in the district the opportunity to move up to a run temporarily when a driver is out for a month or more, meaning a part-time driver will have the opportunity to move to a full-time run before a substitute is put on that route.

To provide an incentive for drivers to come to work -- which some people both outside the union and within its ranks have said is an issue with some drivers -- the agreement includes a clause saying a payment for perfect attendance will be paid “in the second paycheck after the period.” It does not specify the amount or the length of the period in question.

The agreement also prevents the district from holding old issues over employees’ heads forever with a clause that states preliminary disciplinary actions cannot be used against them after 24 months -- meaning any issues that occurred before the 2013-14 school year cannot be used now.

(Bus drivers packed the May school board meeting after the district‘s intention to lay off drivers was announced; issues aired at the time included low pay and absenteeism, both of which appear to have been addressed to a degree by the memorandum of agreement approved by the board Thursday night. Credit: Karen Wall)