This story was updated on Aug. 29 to include information about a cease and desist letter Travel Kuz sent to the union and the union's response.
Tensions between school bus drivers contracted to serve Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Schools and the company that employs them continued to escalate this week amid an ongoing lockout.
Unionized drivers and monitors started picketing last week after their employer Travel Kuz, a subsidiary of Beacon Mobility, locked them out of the company’s Brattleboro offices. The lockout follows weeks of contentious contract negotiations between the company and Vermont Teamsters Local 597, which represents the transportation workers.
While those employees haven’t returned to work, replacement drivers were brought in ahead of students’ first day back “to ensure that transportation runs as smoothly as possible,” wrote Windham Southeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Mark Speno in a statement on Tuesday.
Routes would be covered by these drivers for all of the district’s schools, he said, which serve students in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney and Vernon.
“Communication between the transportation company and drivers union have not stopped, and both sides continue to work toward a resolution,” Speno wrote.
But after workers picketed outside Brattleboro Union High School and Brattleboro Area Middle School on the first day of school on Wednesday, Travel Kuz sent a cease and desist order to the union for "unlawful picketing" and accused the union of endangering student safety.
The bus service employer claims the picketing union members spat at school buses, blocked school bus entry, created traffic disruptions and showed "obscene and aggressive behavior toward students and drivers."
Curtis Clough, Union President of Vermont Teamsters Local 597, denied Travel Kuz's allegations of union members spitting and disrupting bus access and traffic, saying they did nothing to intimidate students and drivers. Union members did cross the traffic crosswalk a few times while picketing, Clough said.
Teamster media coordinator Lena Melentijevic said the cease and desist letter is an attempt to distract from the lockout.
“Our members are excited and eager to get back to work, Melentijevic said. “They love their jobs. They love the kids that they drive to school every single day. A lot of them have their own kids in the school system that they serve.The lockout could end today, if the company chose to end it.”
Travel Kuz said in a press release that they also plan to sue the chapter.
As part of the negotiations, the union is asking for a pay increase, enhanced health benefits and a provision to ensure workers get paid on time.
“We want fair treatment that's equal to what other bus drivers are receiving in locations that are reasonably close to where the Brattleboro drivers work every day," said Clough. “Until the company is willing to open their eyes and start treating the bus drivers with the respect that they deserve, they're going to continue to have these kinds of issues.”
Travel Kuz has not responded to multiple requests from Vermont Public for comment. But in an email shared with VTDigger last week, Travel Kuz said the union’s request would result in a 40% spike in costs to the company.”
The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Travel Kuz with the National Labor Relations Board for withholding a revenue document it says would allow them to fact-check this claim, and for the lockout itself.
