Montreal school bus drivers begin 2-day strike affecting 15,000 students

MONTREAL – Several thousand Montreal students had to find an alternative way to get to school Tuesday after bus drivers began a two-day strike over wages.

The strike is affecting roughly 15,000 elementary and high school students from the four major public school boards in Montreal as well as kids attending one private school.

More than 300 unionized drivers with Autobus Transco will be off the job Tuesday and Wednesday due to a contract dispute over wages and the length of a new collective agreement.

Drivers voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike the week prior and last-minute negotiations on Monday didn’t produce any results.

The union said their employer’s offer included a wage freeze for the first two years of a new contract, followed by raises for the next three years at what the union said amounts to 50 per cent of the inflation rate.

Union spokeswoman Carole Laplante said Tuesday her members want a three-year contract, and added that contract negotiations have stalled.

On Montreal’s south shore, another potential labour dispute involving school bus drivers was averted.

Unifor, which represents drivers and mechanics who service the Marie-Victorin School Board, said a tentative agreement was ratified Monday by 78 per cent of union members who voted.