By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

NEW YORK – New York City’s school bus drivers’ strike is in its second day, and there’s no end in sight.

City officials say that 113,200 students out of the 152,000 who rely on bus transportation are being affected by the labor strike. The rest have bus routes that are still running, reports the Associated Press.

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Analysts say that absent a court order forcing the 8,000 drivers and aides back to their buses, this strike could potentially last until the end of the school year.

What do bus “aides” do, anyway?

The strike stems from the city’s decision to get a handle on its transportation costs. The New York Times reports that the city annually spends $7,000 per student on school busses. Based on the district’s 180-day school calendar, that works out to $38.89 per student, per day.

“That would be enough for a lot of the kids to take a taxi every day instead, and in some cases, that’s sort of what happens,” writes the Atlantic Wire. “Bus routes have become so confused that there are often less than ten students on buses built for 60. Drivers say that sometimes they’re driving a single student.”

That system is obviously unsustainable, especially given all of New York City schools’ financial problems.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants more favorable contracts with the group of private bus companies the city hires for student transportation.

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The drivers know that a streamlined bus system could lead to layoffs, which is why they plan on striking until Bloomberg provides assurances that nobody will lose his or her job.

Even if Bloomberg wanted to offer them job guarantees (which he doesn’t), New York’s highest court has barred the city “from including such provisions because of competitive bidding laws,” the AP reports.

Observers say Bloomberg is trying to clean up the unionized busing business which is known for waste and corruption.

“For decades, the city has embraced anticompetitive measures and carried on business relations with an array of bus companies, including some that have been implicated in bribery, been under the sway of organized crime and, in one case, run by a man who displayed a pistol at a negotiating session,” writes The New York Times’ Al Baker.

Baker notes that union leaders and city employees alike have been imprisoned for “shaking down bus companies, offering in return labor peace, advanced notice of inspections or approval of lucrative extra routes.”

Sounds like a lot of people have gotten rich off the city’s school bus system. It’s no wonder why the bus drivers’ union is so eager to protect its piece of the action.