Bus driver union agrees to wage freeze

RANDOLPH, N.J. — To help ease Randolph Township Schools’ budget crisis, the district’s school bus drivers, represented by the Teamsters union, agreed last week to ratify their existing contract and support a wage freeze for the coming school year.

The district’s board of education said that the measure was scheduled to be approved on Monday night during its business session.

“I look forward to presenting this measure for full board approval Monday night,” Negotiations Chairman Ethan Blynn said on Friday. “We’d like to thank the Teamsters for doing their part to help ease our budget crisis.”

This is the second union in Randolph in the past week to agree to a wage freeze for the 2010-11 school year. The Randolph Township Administrators’ Association (RTAA), which represents local principals, vice principals and supervisors, agreed to a wage freeze last Tuesday.

Daily Record reports that the RTAA accepted a wage freeze contingent upon the school budget passing. The budget will go before voters on Tuesday.

Teamsters, the union that represents the district's bus drivers, agreed to the freeze without any contingencies.