An agreement between DATTCO and the Teamsters Union Local 671, which represents Cromwell and Middletown school bus drivers and monitors, was reached this weekend to avoid an impending strike.
The four-year contract was negotiated and agreed to late Sunday afternoon and the 80 drivers and 30 monitors were at work as normal on Monday morning.
“We’re happy about an agreement that recognizes the invaluable labor of our drivers and monitors,” Local 671 spokesperson Bryan Chong said. “It’s not a perfect agreement by any means, but we are finally raising the standards for Middletown and Cromwell drivers to something closer to the area and industry standards.”
Chong said the contract expired on July 1 and there were multiple agreed-upon extensions that ran through Sunday night. He said an agreement was made between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, noting that a strike was “very close” before the agreement was made.
“The company had a lot of time since July 1 when the contract first expired to start coming to us with acceptable offers and we were prepared to strike on the first day of school, and then we agreed to contract extensions for the sake of the students and the parents,” Chong said. “I think that was stressing to everyone.
“Originally, we were pretty far off, especially on health care,” Chong added. “There was limited health care to certain workers by seniority. That was a major sticking point, and we were able to win health care for all drivers and all monitors in Middletown and Cromwell starting in 2027.”
Chong said there were “significant’ wage increases” for monitors and drivers in Cromwell and Middletown. He added that there will be a 100% increase in 401K contributions from the company from a $1 an hour to $2 an hour.
He added that wage scales are also compressed from a 25-year scale to an eight-year scale. The bus monitors in Middletown and Cromwell will now have nine paid holidays to match what the drivers receive. Previously, monitors had no paid holidays.
“We also won a provision for monitors that want to become drivers,” Chong said. “This will allow monitors to keep their seniority once they get their CDL to become a driver. So, say a monitor spent three years and trained to become a CDL driver previously, their seniority would reset to zero. But now in this case they would be entering year four.
“DATTCO didn’t give us this contract we stood up, fought for it and won,” Chong added. “Many of these drivers and monitors are single mothers or people that are in second careers after suffering life-changing injuries in a previous job. These are folks I think society often leaves behind. With the power of the Teamsters union behind them, they stood up for their justice, their dignity and respect.”
Calls and emails to DATTCO were not immediately returned on Monday but the company sent a statement to WFSB on Sunday.
“Our employees provide an essential service to all of the communities that we serve, and while we attempt to be conscious of the quickly rising costs of student transportation that are ultimately paid for by the taxpayers of each community, we are also thrilled to deliver these wages and benefits,” Kyle Devivo, chief operating officer of DATTCO, said in a statement.
DATTCO was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in New Britain. According to the DATTCO website, the company’s school bus division “shuttles over 140,000 students across Connecticut and Rhode Island daily.”
Both the Cromwell and Middletown School District superintendents let parents and guardians know about the agreement on Sunday.
“We would like to provide a positive update as it pertains to the negotiations between the Teamsters Union Local 671 and DATTCO. We have received confirmation that both parties have reached a mutual agreement that will avoid a bus driver strike starting (Monday),” Middletown Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alberto Vázquez Matos said in a statement on Sunday. “This means bus routes will run normally throughout the district, and families will continue to receive the safe, reliable transportation they depend on to get students to and from school each day.
“We are grateful both sides were able to come to an agreement for the greater good of the community, and support the mission of our district to provide quality education to your children by getting them to school safely. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time,” the statement concluded.
Cromwell Superintendent of Schools Dr. Enza Macri also shared the news of the agreement in a statement to families on Sunday night.
“I am pleased to share good news regarding the potential bus driver strike. DATTCO has informed us that they have reached a settlement with Teamsters Union Local 671, which represents the bus drivers,” Macri said in the statement. “This agreement means buses will continue to operate on their regular schedules, and there will not be a strike. Thank you for your patience and support as we worked through this situation.”
Macri reiterated her relief that an agreement was reached in a statement to the Courant on Monday morning.
“We are extremely happy and relieved that the Teamsters and DATTCO were able to come to an agreement and avoid a bus driver strike,” Macri said in the statement. “We are grateful to our bus drivers for taking good care of our students and appreciate the work DATTCO has done to address this issue. Also, a big thank you to our families for their patience and to our staff that was ready to support the district with implementing a Plan B, which would have required staff to pitch in and take care of our students if we needed to provide before and after school care.”
