The Education Ministry is calling on a mediator to try to resolve an impasse in school transportation contract negotiations that threatens to leave tens of thousands of students without a bus less than two weeks before the start of the school year.
Posted at 11:56 am
Updated at 1:54 pm.
Minister Jean-Francois Roberge’s office indicates that a quarter of the contracts with carriers are yet to be signed. “There are deals to be signed every day, I think we will get there [avant la rentrée] The minister said on Wednesday.
Many school transport contracts expired on June 30 and negotiations between carriers and school service centers have stalled.
Many school service centers in the province have already advised parents to find a Plan B at the start of the school year. On Wednesday, in Granby, the Val-des-Cerfs school service center “encouraged” parents to “plan alternatives” because school lessons and activities will be held and children will remain in school.
It is M.e Claude Savago, who leads the mandatory “lightning of negotiations” between the parties. In the Quebec past, the lawyer has negotiated collective agreements in the private sector, the municipal sector, and the public and parapublic sectors, including national collective agreements for teaching and support staff in the school network.
“We’re moving up a gear,” says Jean-Francois Roberge. “We want buses to transport our youth from day one,” the minister said, denying that timely action had been taken. The minister said the government had started negotiating with carriers in the spring.
The Federation of Bus Carriers (FTA) is calling for a 20 to 25% hike in fares. The FTA estimates that “at least” 60% of the young people it transports annually will face a “penalty” if the negotiations, representing around 300,000 students, fail.
With Henri Ouellet-Vezina and Charles Lecavalier, Press
