Canadian Labour Reporter

The broader public sector pro- curement directive requires all publicly funded contracts over $100,000 to incorporate some form of competitive procurement. Transportation consortia com- prised of multiple school boards were established and tasked with the procurement of school bus contracts through the RFP sys- tem. Prior to the system, school bus contracts were managed by school boards and the contracts were, essentially, evergreen con- tracts. "As long as there really wasn't a problem with the contractor, the contractor would keep getting the work from the school boards," DiCaro said. "School bus drivers would have some sense of stability. Although the jobs have always been chal- lenging and precarious, there was never a threat that, every few years, they would basically tender these transportation contracts under a competitive framework." By requiring service providers to bid on bus routes, DiCaro said, it is believed monopolies will be prevented and the spirit of com- petition will result in more cost- efficient services. "Our concern is when you cre- ate a system like this — which is basically based on the spirit of competitive procurement and trying to keep bids low so that your costs aren't soaring — this will directly affect the bus drivers," he said. "For a company to manage their cost structure, they're going to suppress wages. And that's what we're seeing." According to the union, there is no guarantee drivers affected by routes flipped under the RFP sys- tem will see their position trans- ferred over to the new provider. And even if the drivers are hired on by the new provider, it is likely they would lose any gains made with their previous employer. "They're essentially going to be resetting back to when they start- ed," DiCaro said. "If they made wage increases over time, they'll likely be back at minimum wage with no benefits, no seniority and, in five years, we're going to do it all over again. Our biggest concern is that while the province is really gung-ho about this competitive bidding system, they have totally neglect- ed the impact this is going to have on drivers." Drivers, students play role The needs of drivers and students play a large role in the RFP system, according to Kevin Hodgkinson, general manager of the Toronto Student Transportation Group. "The whole point of the pro- cess is to be fair and transparent," Hodgkinson said. "The RFP is based 55 per cent on price and 45 per cent on other qualitative fac- tors, which include safety pro- grams, communication protocols and accident reporting." Based on information from car- riers, Hodgkinson said, as many as 80 per cent of existing drivers on recently flipped routes will be moving over to new carriers to continue providing service. "In terms of consistency, we like to see the same driver doing the same routes because they're familiar with the area and the roads, with the students, with the schools and their policies," Hodg- kinson said. "Driver-wise, we're not as con- cerned because we've found driv- ers move between companies as far as contracts go." Unifor, however, is arguing the assumption that drivers will be pulled over to new carriers is not enough. The union is calling for a mechanism that would protect drivers' wages by removing them from the RFP system. "Take wages out of the compet- itive framework," DiCaro said. "If they want companies to compete, that's fine. They can find other creative ways to find efficiencies. But that shouldn't come at the ex- pense of people's wages." According to the Ontario School Bus Association (OSBA), however, driver wages are the sin- gle largest expense with respect to student transportation contracts. "It's important to understand that roughly 50 per cent of every dollar that is spent in transporta- tion in Ontario in the contracts themselves goes back out in wages to drivers, mechanics and support staff," said Les Cross, president of the OSBA. While it would likely be dif- ficult to remove wages from the RFP system altogether, Cross said other provinces using the RFP sys- tem have introduced a wage floor to create consistency for drivers moving to different carriers. "I don't think anybody should be winning a contract on the backs of labour and the RFP pro- cess itself does give us the op- portunity right now to reset the bar with respect to driver wages," Cross said. "It's going to be important for the new carriers to establish a fair wage that they're going to be able to sustain." DiCaro agreed that sustainabil- ity is a huge concern moving for- ward, as the union works toward creating an environment that fos- ters consistency. "Children taking the bus, they develop a relationship with that driver. There's a trust factor that's built into this contract. The par- ents send their kids off to school and they expect they're going to arrive at school safely," DiCaro said. "Having that friendly, familiar face on the bus — it may sound a bit romanticized — but I'll tell you, as a parent myself of young kids, that means everything to me. The idea that the person who is charged with delivering the most precious cargo we've got, in our kids, that we treat them so poorly, I don't understand that." 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER NEWS < Bus routes pg. 1 RFP system an opportunity to improve wages: OSBA Photo: Eric Miller (Reuters) Contract flipping under the request for proposal (RFP) system is especially harmful in school transporta- tion, Unifor argues, because it is important to maintain consistency for parents and students.

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