2023-11-27 21:50:30
School bus drivers might see their salaries cut in half if teachers carry out their threat of an indefinite strike in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
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The teachers’ strike has an impact on school bus operators. In the majority of contracts, when the walkout exceeds five days, bus drivers see their salaries cut in half.
“In other regions of Quebec, it is effective from this week. There are places where strikes have already been going on since last Tuesday, so it has consequences in the greater Montreal and Quebec region as well,” mentioned Stéphane Lefebvre, president of Groupe Autocar Jeannois.
“We see how things are heading in terms of negotiations with the public sector and we still have certain fears of experiencing this process, a reduction in services and a complete shutdown,” added Hugo Gilbert, president of the Intercar Group. .
The irony is that several drivers in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean campaigning for better working conditions have just returned to work, following a strike of approximately three weeks.
“We have a hard time keeping school bus and sedan drivers. If in addition because of the strikes they no longer receive any salary, they will turn to something else and we do not want that,” worried Josée Dubé, school bus driver and president in the school transport sector for the CSN.
“It is certain that if this continues over time and there are continuous shutdowns, there might be consequences for maintaining our cost structure in place and layoffs might take place at that time. – there,” said Mr. Lefebvre.
Possible outages
Provincially, nearly 11,000 school bus drivers might be affected by the end of the month. If other strikes occur in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, nearly 500 drivers might suffer the same fate.
However, many drivers have not accumulated enough hours to qualify for employment insurance, since they only started their contract once more in September, when the school year started.
“We are already experiencing a fairly difficult period of attraction and retention in school transport. If we also experience this, it will be a disaster!” said Ms. Dubé.
Government questioned
The Federation of Bus Transporters and the unions are asking the Minister of Education to ensure salaries in school transport if strikes in the public sector are prolonged.
“We don’t have big salaries. There the strike might easily impact workers. So we are asking the government to instruct that contracts be maintained with the transporters so that they can in turn pay the school bus and sedan drivers who are not working due to the strike,” stressed Josée. Dube.
The union hopes for a quick return from the government and wants the news to be positive.
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