School buses line up outside Sunset Park School Tuesday, waiting to pick up students from their first day back at school. Photo by Jeff Turl.
An agreement has been reached that will head off a strike by seven workers, mostly women, that plan and coordinate bus routing and school transportation services for the Nipissing-Parry Sound Student Transportation Services (NPSSTS).
The group provides transportation services to four area school boards: Near North District School Board, the Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board, the Conseil scolaire de district du Nord-Est de l'Ontario, and the Conseil scolaire Franco-Nord.
General Manager of the consortium Dan Jolette told BayToday that an agreement was reached Monday afternoon.
"Everything is back to normal," said Jolette.
Colin MacDougall, CUPE 1165 President said getting students to sporting events and extra-curricular activities, would have been affected by a strike.
"It was never about money," said MacDougall. "They (workers) asked for status quo. It was mostly changes to contract language.
"It was a great Labour Day for them," he added.
The NPSSTS manages and coordinates transportation services for four local member school boards over a region that stretches from West Nipissing to Mattawa, and from Temagami to Parry Sound, Novar and MacTier, including North Bay and all towns and villages in between.
They arrange transportation for over 12,000 students to 72 schools, covering more than 40,000 km daily.
