FOG BLOG NEW BRUNSWICK NEWS LOG: SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS AND CUSTODIANS FINALLY RATIFY AGREEMENT!

School bus drivers, custodian union ratifies agreement with N.B.......Bus drivers to get pay increase of 15 to 17 per cent, pension review......Bus drivers and school custodians have officially ratified a collective agreement with the New Brunswick government.

Local 1253 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees was the only holdout after a 2021 strike by thousands of public servants seeking better pay and a resolution to pension issues.

The strike by more than 20,000 school bus drivers, educational support staff and workers in transportation, corrections and the community college system lasted more than two weeks and kept schools closed until it ended in November.

CUPE 1253 represents close to 2,500 school bus drivers and custodians, who went back to work while negotiations continued. The majority voted to accept the tentative agreement reached last month, but the exact percentage was not shared publicly...........CUPE spokesperson Simon Ouellette said the agreement is "very similar" to what the other unions accepted in November.

Ouellette told Radio-Canada the agreement includes a process to review the members' pension plan over the next months.

Marcos Salib, negotiator for the local, told Radio-Canada the agreement will increase their pay to just over $23 an hour in two years.

He said bus drivers will get a 15 to 17 per cent wage increase spread over five years..........Salib said the province struggles to recruit bus drivers, and they remain the lowest-paid sector, despite the increase in pay.

"I think what we've had is a step forward ... but really, we'll have to keep working to get other increases and benefits to attract people," he told Radio-Canada.