Non-Union Bus Drivers Take Jobs

Three of the school buses sidelined by a drivers’ strike went back on the road with non-union drivers Monday, and seven more were expected to go out today, when the strike enters its second week.

All 10 are equipped with wheelchair lifts and serve special-needs students, said Laidlaw Transit Co. spokesman Kevin Mest. Just nine students were aboard the three vans used Monday.

Meanwhile, the Seattle School District arranged with Gray Line of Seattle to provide 40 buses to transport 1,700 elementary school students beginning this morning.

The charter buses - hired at a cost of $14,000 a day, covered by Laidlaw - will serve only the students with the longest commutes, district spokeswoman Dorothy Dubia said. Youngsters will be picked up at their closest neighborhood schools - 17 of them - and transported to the 26 schools they attend, she said, noting that each bus will carry a thoroughly briefed district staffer.

Laidlaw ran ads Sunday for temporary replacement drivers.

“We have been overwhelmed with the response,” Laidlaw spokesman Kevin Mest said Monday.

Calls began coming in at 6:30 a.m., he said, and more than 100 had been logged by noon. Interviews were scheduled for dozens of applicants, and classroom training was to begin Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment on the company’s efforts from Teamsters Local 763, which represents the 300 drivers in the strike that began a week ago on March 7. This is the first such walkout in district history.

Contract talks stalled again Friday over pension provisions. No new negotiations are planned until there is some indication of hope for an agreement, federal mediator Thomas Drew has said.

The drivers are asking for a company-funded Teamsters pension plan, while Laidlaw is proposing drivers invest in individual retirement accounts, or IRAs.

Laidlaw has 282 vans and buses serving about 13,200 students - more than half of the 25,000 district students who use school buses. Laidlaw serves north Seattle students and all special-needs students. Another company, unaffected by the strike, transports students in south and west Seattle. The district has a total of about 46,000 students.

On Monday, most of the district’s special-needs students took taxis to class at Laidlaw’s expense as required under the district contract, Dubia said. A total of 191 cabs were dispatched, she said.

“We’re continuing to pressure Laidlaw to get this thing handled,” she said.