LAS CRUCES – Our Lady of Health Catholic Church deacon John Eric Munson visited New Mexico’s student transportation specialists in Las Cruces to bless the 123 buses parked there Friday morning.
Munson was called not only to bless the buses, many of which have either passed the recommended replacement date of 12 years or buses intended for short-term use, but also to work for the Las Cruces Transportation Federation Local # 6341 – the Union – to pray representing the district bus drivers – negotiating contracts with STS New Mexico, the bus driver’s employer.
Union drivers said their current contract expires on October 3rd. The blessing of the buses on Friday was a way of drawing attention to what they thought was necessary work for the next contract.
Education:Las Cruces Public Schools is revising the COVID-19 case tracking system
“(Students) are counting on us to have their voices heard for them when they have to wait in the heat or cold for their drivers who have been assigned two or maybe even three routes at the last minute,” said Dean Abrams, a bus driver for seven years in Las Cruces and President of the Las Cruces Transportation Federation. “As bus drivers, we have a great responsibility to ensure that our precious cargo arrives safely at its destination.
“We earn more. We are ready to ensure their safety, but we cannot work at the table without an STS meeting,” he said.
Negotiations are ongoing
The director of the American Federation of Teachers Western Region Ramiro Hernandez assisted the bus drivers in developing and negotiating their contract extension.
According to Hernandez, LCTF Local # 6341 filed its contract extension on July 26 with multiple filings. Hernandez said STS hadn’t changed any part of the contract, including updated safety language, updated sick day allocation, increasing wages and benefits, and addressing the huge staff shortage.
“There has been zero progress,” he said. “The employer has not left his original position.”
Van Wamel, general manager of STS New Mexico, said this back and forth is standard every year.
“We’re just not done with it yet,” said Wamel of the contract negotiations. “They wanted to talk more about (paid) free time, so we talked a little more about it. I think otherwise it should stay with the standard boiler plate from last year.
“It’s pretty typical and it all depends on the wages.”
Wamel added that most of the negotiations are underway through STS’s owner, DS Bus Lines, a national company.
‘Tell’ bottlenecks
Sun News spoke to bus drivers Abrams and Peter Sultana in August about the “urgent” bottlenecks the district is facing. Sultana said things were worse now.
Of the 120 or so routes in Las Cruces Public Schools, there is a 23 driver deficit at STS, according to Abrams.
On Friday alone, five bus drivers and attendants resigned, most to pursue other higher-paying driver jobs, Sultana said.
When a female bus driver got off after her last day, the drivers joked that STS is the Titanic.
Wamel said there are currently 15 people in training. The biggest setback is the long training and certification phase, which lasts around a month and a half.
Although drivers are currently in training, many drop out during or shortly after their training.
“The cohorts go from 10 to 5, and after six months you’re probably the last person left
in your cohort, “said Sultana.
Sultana herself started in a cohort of seven and was the only one left after six months, he said. Miguel Castillo, a three-year-old bus driver and vice president of the Las Cruces Transportation Federation, said his cohort started with 11 apprentices and after just five days he is the only one left.
Between the existing bottlenecks and the new COVID-19 protocols, bus drivers sometimes make three additional trips a day, which means that students don’t get to school or home on time.
“They are very concerned about children sitting on the curb for a long time,” said Hernandez.
School bus drivers in New Mexico start out at about $ 13 an hour and work about four or five hours a day. After two years, drivers can receive a bonus of $ 0.25 and no further increase for three years thereafter.
While driving, the school bus drivers not only have to focus on the road, but also keep an eye on the students behind them to make sure they are seated in their seats and abide by the many bus rules.
Hernandez said it was like running a classroom on wheels.
“A lot of drivers don’t understand what they have to endure until they have kids on the bus,” said Bill Edgars, a bus driver for 10 years. “Then they say, ‘The work is not worth the wages.'”
Keep it up
Drivers can get their bus driving license through schools and then switch careers with the city or with the greyhound.
“Other employers just suck them away because they treat them better and pay them better,” said Hernandez.
Wamel said Las Cruces lost three bus drivers and an assistant from Holloman Air Force Base just this week.
The contract negotiations will start in the coming week.
“We pray for one another for mercy and charity,” Munson said in prayer. “Help us to enter into all conversations in a spirit of dialogue, so that we hear and understand first, and that we speak the truth with gentleness and patience.”
Miranda Cyr, a member of the Report for America corps, can be reached at [email protected] or @mirandabcyr on Twitter. Show your support for the Report for America program at https://bit.ly/LCSNRFA.
Others read:
Comments are closed.