(Seth Gottfried)
Over 100 Brooklyn bus matrons who came back to work this morning after their union ended its month-long school bus strike were abruptly terminated — after being told their company had folded.
When they arrived at their Red Hook bus depot around 5 a.m., shocked members of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union were told they could reapply for positions with affiliated bus companies – but only working under a different union.
“[I’ve lost] hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’m not losing another nickel more,” the owner of the shuttered firm, Joseph Fazzia, shouted toward a group of matrons. “This union thinks they can tell me what to do — they can go f–k themselves!”
A letter signed by Fazzia, president of the affiliated companies Boro Wide Buses, JoFaz Transportation and Canal Escorts, said that Canal had folded because it had been unable to meet its contractual requirements with the Department of Education during the strike.
“The layoffs are permanent,” the letter said.
A separate note to the president of Local 1181 said the matrons could apply for positions with the affiliated bus companies, under a similar pay scale, but with benefits provided by Teamsters Local 854.
“He said we don’t have a job, he lost a lot of money by us striking. I think it is in retaliation,” said Rosemary Fasanello, a bus matron of four years who lives in Bath Beach. “He is telling [Local] 1181 workers to go home. They hired all new girls when we were on strike.”
Local 1181, which represents two-thirds of school bus drivers, matrons and mechanics, launched its strike on January 16 after the city started an effort to gradually remove long-held job protections from its school bus contracts.
The strike was suspended as of last Friday even though those job protections have still not been restored.
Some workers felt that the union had won little other than a promise from five Democratic mayoral hopefuls to revisit the job protections if they’re elected next year. If more than 100 members lose their jobs at Canal Escorts, it would be a further blow to Local 1181.
A call to the union was not immediately returned.
When he was approached at his office later this morning, Fazzia struck a softer tone regarding the matrons’ jobs. He said it wasn’t a labor dispute, but a matter of the matrons’ training and medical certifications being out of compliance.
“My position today is, as far as I’m concerned, these girls are out of compliance,” he told The Post. “Until I get notification from this shop steward that they’re in compliance, nobody is going to go to work out there.”
But a number of matrons disputed that claim.
“I’ve been certified since January 2nd,” said Lydia Toro, 46, of Canarsie. “He is absolutely lying about the compliance [issues].”
The city spent roughly $20.6 million in transit cards, taxis and gas mileage to get tens of thousands of stranded students to school during the strike; some still didn’t get there at all, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said Monday. But he estimated the city saved $80 million because it wasn’t paying bus companies during the strike.