April 16, 2013
By Noah Gotbaum, NYC Council Candidate
Juan Gonzales' Daily News article confirms what many public school parents and others have known for some time: that Mayor Bloomberg and the DOE lied about employee experience provisions in order to force a strike by ATU Local 1181, and their drivers and matrons.
As the parent of a special needs bus child who relied daily on 1181's dedicated, experienced members, I am appalled that Bloomberg refuses to bargain in good faith and puts union-busting far ahead of the safety and security of my child, and of that of our most vulnerable children and families.
I am saddened – but not surprised – to learn definitively that Mayor Bloomberg misrepresented critical facts which directly resulted in the dispute with our yellow school bus drivers and matrons' union, and put at risk the safety and security for our most vulnerable children.
In Friday's April 12th NY Daily News, columnist Juan Gonzalez exposed the Mayor's decision to put out false information regarding the City's ability to provide a fair contract to school bus drivers and matrons.
Mayor Bloomberg publicly stated that New York State's highest court had ruled illegal the sensible employee experience provisions that had existed in school bus labor contracts for decades, provisions that help ensure that our children – including my own special needs child – are brought safely to their destinations. As revealed in the Gonzalez
article, New York City's own lawyers now are saying that the Court of Appeals ruling does not hold employee protections to be unlawful.
