Bristol bus drivers, unions urge board to require contractor to hire local drivers

At April 1 public comment, current bus drivers and union leaders urged the board to secure written commitments from the district’s incoming transportation contractor to hire Bristol drivers and to negotiate with the union to preserve wages and benefits.

"These are your neighbors," said a bus monitor who identified herself as Sosa, describing 12+ years on Bristol routes and urging the board to "ask them for a written commitment to hiring Bristol's current drivers and monitors and making them priority for the summer school and for the fall." She said drivers know students and families and that replacing them with unfamiliar staff would harm continuity.

Caroline Spininger, who said she has driven in Bristol for 17 years, told the board the union contract provides wages, health care and a reliable retirement and warned of a high‑profile failure she said followed a contractor change in another state: "In Rhode Island last September when [a contractor] took over a school bus district ... 17 routes went uncovered on the first day of school," she said, adding that the ACLU and the governor became involved in that case.

Mike Reynolds, president of the Bristol Federation of Teachers, voiced support for the board’s budget request and thanked drivers for their service; he urged the board to hold contractors accountable and protect workers who have been serving Bristol students for decades.

Board members responded that they would follow up with transportation leadership, that the district would ask the contractor (identified in meeting materials) to meet with union representatives, and offered to schedule a workshop if hiring issues were not resolved promptly.