By Mary O’KEEFE

The bus strike that has affected Glendale Unified School District continues with no end in sight, according to GUSD and the First Student bus company. The bus drivers for First Student walked off the job a week ago today. The strike caught GUSD off guard.

“We knew they were in negotiations,” said Kristine Nam, spokeswoman for GUSD. “We were told things were going well.”

“We were caught off-guard too,” said First Student spokesman Jay Brock.

Nam said the district was informed of the strike Thursday morning moments before students were to board the buses.

“We operated with no buses,” she said.

“It was quite abrupt,” Brock said. “We were not aware of [the strike].”

According to Dennis Watson, spokesman for Teamsters Local 572, the union that represents the drivers, negotiations have not been going too well.

“We entered into a cooling off period in December,” Watson said.

The two entities had not been to the negotiation table since. Brock said they are still in “communication” with the union and continued to stress the company was “shocked that [the walk out] abruptly happened.”

The parties seem to be apart on several issues including healthcare benefits. Watson said the workers have about 40% of their paycheck going to pay for healthcare.

“A vast number of our workers can’t afford it,” Watson said.

Other issues include pay and vacations. There are 220 members of the Union.

Brock said that First Student understands the challenge schools are dealing with as students are left without bus transportation. The strike affects school buses serving Glendale, Pasadena and Alhambra school districts. In Glendale, students who attend Clark Magnet High School as well as sports teams and special needs students are all directly affected by the walk out.

As of Wednesday, there was one First Student bus operating for Clark Magnet High School and 23 operating for the transportation of special needs children. The rest of Clark’s transportation needs are being met by using charter buses.

Nam said the district is now working with ALC (American Logistics Company), a national passenger transportation company that is equipped with specialized vehicles that can transport students with special needs. ALC is picking up 11 students with special needs from their homes to transport them to school, Nam added.

There are still 200 students in special education who require transportation, Nam added.

That doesn’t include the sports teams and field trips that require bus transport for students. Nam said the district is continuing to charter buses and working with ALC to meet all the transportation needs.

Parents are filling the gaps by taking kids to school, but this has been difficult for some because many parents work and some have no transportation options. Administrators are being lenient when it comes to students who arrive late or are absent due to the strike.

“We are still doing a lot of scrambling,” Nam said.

CVW reported earlier that negotiations were ongoing, but that is not the case. The two sides are both waiting for calls to go back to the table, but as of Wednesday that had not happened.

  Mary Okeefe, robin goldsworthy