Union Pushes for Fairness in Discipline for School Bus Drivers, Matrons

Union Reps Dylan Valle (left) and Gus Moghrabi tell the Transportation Committee that there is insufficient due process for school bus drivers

School Bus personnel like those who work at our Westchester properties, face job insecurity from a flawed disciplinary system. It works like this: even though the drivers and matrons work for private companies under contract to school boards, the school boards can "disqualify" an employee from employment for any reason or no reason. A parent complaint, School Bus Division Rep Gus Moghrabi told the State Legislature, got a bus driver fired in Greenburgh, when he refused to let a child out at an unscheduled stop. Read his testimony here. There was no fact finding, no disciplinary due process, no right to arbitration. A bill being proposed in the State house, by State Senator Andrew Lanza and Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, would rectify this by requiring school boards to follow the contractual disciplinary process agreed upon by the TWU and the private companies operating school bus companies. This bill will be a major push for TWU Local 100 during the coming legislative session.