Local 78B – Stock Transportation UPDATE and Rescheduled Local Meeting

Dear Member,

I had been looking forward to seeing all of you last night at your Local meeting however, with the weather making the roads unsafe your President made the right decision to postpone the meeting in the interest of your safety.

The Meeting has been rescheduled for:

Date: Thursday February 20, 2020

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Place: NSGEU Office

Last week the Halifax Regional Centre for Education announced the service providers that will begin busing students in the fall.

• Student Transportation of Canada Inc. will provide bus service to the following Families of Schools: Citadel High, Duncan MacMillan, Eastern Shore, Halifax West, J.L. Ilsley, Millwood, Lockview, Musquodoboit Rural, and Sir John A. Macdonald.
• Southland Transportation Ltd. will provide bus service to the following Families of Schools: Auburn Drive, Bedford and Forsyth Education Centres (BFEC), Charles P. Allen, Cole Harbour District, Dartmouth High, Island View, Prince Andrew and Sackville High.
• Stock will provide bus service to all HRCE schools for Special Needs Transportation.

The day of the announcement, I had an opportunity to meet with all of the management teams. The first thing I asked each of them was if they intended in recognising NSGEU as the bargaining agent and if they would adhere to the current Local 78b collective agreement. The answer from both companies was yes, they intended to certify with the NSGEU and were open to the current collective agreement. Since the announcement, we have had further conversations on how things like changing employers will work and how it will be done. This is going to take some time to figure as there are many things to consider like. Seniority, routes and geographical concerns.  We all know that the new players are looking for a transition that is respectful to all of you and will be working with us and your current employer, Stock. Over the coming weeks and months the new service providers will be ramping up their recruitment efforts holding job fairs and meet greets. It is our understanding that while you may apply or state your interest with a new provider, hiring will not be happening until after the end of the school year in June.

More conversations will be taking place with Student Transport and Southland Transportation this week. We will be urging each of them to voluntarily certify with the NSGEU as soon as possible, accept your current collective agreement and then work with us on planning an orderly transition for all of you for the coming school year.

Our work on your behalf continues and I will keep your executive updated and update your all as developments take place. You may have a lot of questions in the coming weeks, but remember you are part of the NSGEU, don’t sit in silence with unanswered questions. Reach out to us, ask your questions and we will work with you and the employers to get you the answers you need.

In closing, we want to thank you all again for the professionalism you are all showing during this stressful time and for the service you all provide to students and their families throughout the school year.

In Solidarity,

Jason MacLean