School bus drivers locked in pay dispute
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SCHOOL bus drivers in Sutherland are locked in a pay dispute with Highland Council.
The conflict could jeopardise the provision of out-of-hours transport for schools and community groups involved in extra-curricular activities.
It has also re-ignited the row, which first broke out over two years ago, over the future of the long established school bus depot at Drummuie, outside Golspie.
An informant, who did not want to be named, claimed Highland Council had failed to close the depot then, but were now attempting to do so by the back door.
He said: "If the pay dispute isn’t resolved then the drivers will probably refuse to work out-of-hours and that’ll be the end of the service and possibly the depot.
"But the Highland Council will claim it isn’t their fault and place the blame on the drivers. It’s disgusting."
The large depot is the hub of school transport provision across the county. Established 40 years ago, it has long been regarded with envy by other areas.
The garage maintains a fleet of five coaches, ranging in size from 49 to 55 seaters, and eight minibuses which are used to transport pupils from surrounding areas to Golspie High School and Dornoch Academy.
The minibuses are used to ferry pupils to Rogart and Golspie primaries as well as Golspie High School. Three of the minibuses are based in the north and west for school transport – in Melvich, Bettyhill and Lochinver.
The buses are also in use almost every night and at weekends, taking pupils to and from various sporting, musical, cultural and other activities within Sutherland and further afield. Teachers need only to phone the depot to book transport on a first-come-first-served basis.
A nine-strong team of workers are linked to the garage with two full-time employees – a transport co-ordinator and mechanic-cum-driver.
However, the local authority proposed a major overhaul of the school transport service in Sutherland at the end of 2010.
This involved shutting the Drummuie depot, selling off its five coaches and transferring its fleet of minibuses to a depot in Brora under the control of Transport, Education and Community Services.
The school transport operation would then be put out to tender – although the routes operated by the minibuses would remain under council control.
Council transport managers said the move was not on cost-cutting grounds but because the depot was no longer fit for purpose and ageing coaches needed to be replaced.
It was thought putting the operation out to tender would transfer the capital investment required to the private sector.
At the time parents and teachers reacted angrily to the proposal, criticising it as short sighted. They voiced their feelings at meetings in Bettyhill and Golspie attended by the council’s Education, Culture and Sport head of support services, Ron Mackenzie, and senior transport officer Bob Edwards.
Following the meetings, the authority beat a hasty retreat and agreed to look into the issue in greater depth. Since then it appeared to have died a death.
However trouble resurfaced at the depot some months ago when Highland Council changed the goalposts regarding pay.
The informant explained: "All the school bus drivers have other jobs with the council as well – they’re also janitors or mechanics.
"Up until a year ago they received the same pay rate for both roles with time and a half for out-of-hours work.
"But now the council have differentiated between the duties and are paying a lower rate for driving, with no extra payment for out-of-hours. This means the workers are significantly out of pocket."
It is understood that workers were tempted to withdraw their labour but decided not to do so because of the impact it would have on school pupils.
Employees lodged a grievance with Highland Council and a hearing is set to take place on Friday, 21st September.
GMB (The General, Municipal and Boilermakers Union) has become involved in the dispute. Inverness-based GMB officer Bruce Crabtree told The Northern Times: "It is the case that the GMB are representing members in a grievance.
"The grievance hearing will allow a full investigation into the facts and from there we hope for a positive outcome.
"Until such time as we have an outcome it’s not possible to say what the future holds but I’m confident that all parties will work towards a solution that will not jeopardise future school transport provision. Our GMB members would certainly not be in favour of that happening."
East Sutherland and Edderton councillor Jim McGillivray said he was aware of the pay grievance but did not want to comment in advance of the hearing. However, he said councillors were fighting hard to secure the future of the depot.
"We are very unhappy with the plan to privatise the school bus operation and are holding out for the retention of the Drummuie depot as we believe the status quo is the most cost-effective way of carrying out the service," he said.
Dornoch Academy head teacher John Garvie commented: "The service we get from the Drummuie depot is second to none. We are probably only able to offer extra curricula activities because of the flexibility."
Highland Council was asked to comment but had neither acknowledged nor responded to the request by the time the NT went to Press yesterday (Thursday).
