Labor Relations Board Rules That City Bus Strike Is Legal

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that the public school bus strike in the five boroughs does not break the law.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 began striking on Jan. 16 after the city invited companies to bid to take over the 1,100 routes that serve students with disabilities. There is currently no protection for drivers on those routes, who fear they will be unemployed when the new contract takes effect in June.

Bus company owners lodged a complaint with the labor relations board last week.

But the board ruled Friday that the strike was not unlawful and that the city is one of the drivers’ primary employers.

“I hope that Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg recognizes the impact of today’s decision and decides to come to the table with the union and bus companies to resolve the strike,” Local 1181 President Michael Cordiello said in a statement.

But a spokesman for the city’s Department of Education told NY 1 that last week’s ruling “doesn’t change the fact that the union is recklessly holding our students and city hostage over issues it must settle directly with the bus companies.”

As many as 150,000 school children have been affected by the strike.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the new contracts would save the city more than $95 million over a period of five years and that requiring private contractors to hire the current drivers is barred by a 2011 ruling that determined it would violate the city’s competitive bidding laws.

The union has argued that the 2011 ruling was flawed and accused the mayor’s office of not putting adequate time into negotiations.