Superintendent Steve Massey said district officials were “pleased to have been able to find common ground with our valuable bus drivers.”
School bus drivers and aides in Forest Lake and officials with the Forest Lake Area School District on Friday night reached a tentative contract agreement, averting a strike that was set to start Tuesday.
The tentative agreement — which still must be approved by union members — raises starting wages for bus drivers from $18.60 an hour to $20.03 an hour; starting wages for special education aides went from $15.88 to $17.03, said Amy Perusse, negotiator and business agent for Teamsters Local 320.
The tentative agreement also applies 29 cents to the top wage without previously proposed cuts to the 403(b) contribution from the district, Perusse said.
Superintendent Steve Massey said district officials were “pleased to have been able to find common ground with our valuable bus drivers.”
“We are grateful that we have avoided the disruption a strike would have caused to families, students, the community and the bus drivers and aides,” Massey wrote in a message to families.
Officials with Teamsters Local 320, the union that represents the district’s 76 school bus drivers and special education bus aides, are recommending ratification of the agreement; union members will meet on Monday afternoon to vote, Perusse said.
The Forest Lake school board also will need to ratify the agreement before implementation, Perusse said.
Citing low wages and long work days, the union notified district officials on April 15 that it had filed an intent to strike with the state Bureau of Mediation Services.
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