For the third time in little more than eight years, the threat of a strike by Westport school bus drivers looms for Thursday, Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer said today.
Colleen Palmer: Schools will open as usual. Dave Matlow / WN file photo
In an email to the school community, she said workers employed by Dattco Transportation will go on strike if the drivers’ union fails to reach agreement on a new contract by midnight Wednesday. Schools will still be open, she said.
Her predecessor, Elliott Landon, sent a similar warning email to parents in September 2012 and in September 2008. Both times strikes were averted.
Palmer said the “only exception will be those special education students currently accessing specialized transportation, for whom the district will continue to provide transportation during the strike.”
Palmer urged parents to arrange transportation and consider forming car pools. She said police would provide additional traffic officers to direct traffic at high volume locations and at each school site.
Four years ago, an agreement with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 371 was announced six days after both sides announced that they had entered a “cooling off” period as requested by federal mediators as a contract was about to run out. (See WestportNow Oct. 6, 2012)
