Seattle bus strike over; service resumes on Thursday

UPDATE 5:38 p.m. Wednesday:

From the Seattle School District: The one-day bus strike is over. Normal bus service resumes Thurs., Nov. 30. The district will notify affected families.

—-Original story—-

Approximately 12,000 students will have to find an alternate way to get to school Wednesday as hundreds of bus drivers go on strike.

The one-day strike by drivers contracted through First Student will have an impact on all yellow school bus service in the Seattle School District.

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“Normally, we don’t announce strikes ahead of time because the element of surprise is sort of part of the effectiveness, but in this case, we didn’t want to do that to Seattle families,” said Jaimie Fleming with Teamsters Local 174. “We don’t want parents to send their kids out to the end of street to a bus that’s not going to come.

The union says First Student changed and implemented an inferior medical plan. Teamsters says it has been negotiating the terms of health care and retirement since July, and the “vast majority” of drivers do not have health care through their employer.

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Bus service is expected to resume on Thursday, Nov. 30 but a longer strike is possible if a deal is not reached.

The Seattle School District says missing school due to the strike will result in an unexcused absence. Under state law, students will be marked as truant unless parents call and give another valid excuse.

In addition, Wednesday is an early release day when students are released 75 minutes early.

“We are deeply disappointed that negotiations between First Student and the union have resulted in a strike,” the school district said in a news release. “Even a one-day work stoppage will be disruptive to the families of the 12,000 students who ride a First Student bus.”

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