School Bus Dissidents Say Seniority Rights Bypassed by Companies
By ARI PAUL
After 1,300 school bus drivers were laid off in August by Department of Education-contracted bus companies, some drivers have been rehired, but a dissident caucus of the drivers' union has accused the firms of ignoring seniority rules.

EDDIE KAY: Rights not being protected.

Eddie Kay, who is an organizer in the Members for Change caucus within the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, said that while some members have been called back, some companies were hiring people not previously employed by them.

Many Put on Hold

"People go out to a job that they pick and there's no work," he said in a phone interview before a meeting of Local 1181 members in Brooklyn.

He noted that some members complained that even if they were called back to work, they would be put on standby, which meant being either paid partially or not at all.

"It depends upon the type of standby; sometimes you get a guarantee of four hours," he said. "It's a real horror."

Members for Change has accused Local 1181 Trustee Tommy Mullins of not taking action on the layoffs. The DOE defended its decision to combine bus routes in reaction to a protest by Local 1181 members earlier this month, saying, "Bus drivers who lost their routes understandably want them back, but we don't add buses that no one needs at taxpayer expense."