The City Council is injecting itself into a fight over school-bus service — siding with unionized bus drivers over students and taxpayers, critics charged Wednesday.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and 31 other members urged Albany to pass a law requiring the city to restore union job protections for bus drivers when it puts up 4,300 school-bus routes for competitive bid.
The law would undo an overhaul of the bidding process by then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who scrapped the so-called “employee-protection provision’’ that required new bidders to choose from a list of current drivers based on seniority and union pay scale.
Bloomberg said eliminating the job protections would save the city $210 million over five years.
council members argue that the new rules imperil safety by resulting in less-experienced drivers being behind the wheel.
“It is vital that the employee-protection provision is mandated for inclusion ion all future school-bus contracts,” council members said in a letter to Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature.
But one government expert said the local politicians are misguided.
“The council is favoring the union workers over taxpayers and schoolchildren,” said Baruch College Professor E.S. Savas.
Mayor de Blasio’s spokeman, Wiley Novell, said, “We are committed to working with school communities and bus operators to make sure we have the most experienced drivers behind the wheel keeping our kids safe.”