Saturday, March 01, 2008

Portland

School bus drivers vote for new contract

Portland school bus drivers ratified a labor agreement Friday night after going two years without a contract.

Driver Randy Shaw, executive board officer at Local 575 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said members voted by a 2-1 ratio for a three-year contract that includes 2.5 percent annual wage increases.

Union members, who mainly transport special-needs children, worried about what a strike might do to their charges, he said.

The contract will be retroactive to July 2007 and will run to June 30, 2010.

The Portland Public Schools board is expected to approve it Monday night.

-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson

Redmond

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