The Ministry of Education is calling on a mediator to try to resolve the deadlock in the negotiation of school transport contracts, which threatens to leave up to 300,000 students without a bus less than two weeks before the start of the school year.
Posted at 11:56
“Several school transportation contracts have expired since June 30 and ongoing negotiations between school carriers and school service centers and school boards are slow to conclude,” observes the ministry in a press release issued Wednesday.
It’s M.e Claude Sauvageau who will lead the “negotiation blitz” that must take place between the parties. Quebec indicates that in the past, the lawyer negotiated collective agreements in the private sector, the municipal sector and the public and parapublic sectors, including the national collective agreements for teaching and support staff in the school network.
Many school service centers in the province have already advised parents that they should find a plan B for 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 maintained and children will be expected at school”.
The Federation of Bus Carriers (FTA) is calling for fare increases ranging from 20 to 25%. The FTA estimates that “at least” 60% of the young people it transports annually could be “penalized” if the negotiations do not succeed, which represents approximately 300,000 students.
With Henri Ouellette-Vézina