Labor Board Hears Owner-Operators Complaint

By Eliza Hallabeck

WETHERSFIELD — The State Board of Labor Relations heard a complaint filed by Newtown’s owner-operators against the Board of Education on Thursday, December 29. The hearing was the first of three expected hearings.

The complaint made to the State Board of Labor Relations by the owner-operators, individually contracted bus drivers responsible primarily for regular education routes in town and maintaining privately owned buses, alleges the Board of Education failed to bargain with the contractors prior to deciding whether to open the 2012–17 transportation contract for bids.

The owner-operators were represented by attorney Henry F. Murray at the hearing, and the Board of Education was represented by its attorney, Floyd Dugas.

The complaint, filed on behalf of the owner-operators, with the State Board of Labor Relations alleges the district violated the Municipal Employees Labor Relations Act (MELRA). It was issued by Mr Murray, and alleges a violation of Section 7-470 (4) of MELRA in that the board failed to bargain with the owner-operators through their elected contract committee with respect to its decision to subcontract school bus driving responsibilities.

Following an executive session on October 4, the Board of Education voted 5-1, with current board Chair and then-vice chair Debbie Leidlein the sole vote against the motion, to approve the final five-year contract between the school district and All-Star Transportation Inc of Torrington. The contract was originally awarded to All-Star in early September.

The collective owner-operators tendered the fourth lowest bid at $11.7 million; First Student Transportation bid just over $11 million and DATTCO presented an $11.4 million bid for the contract. All-Star was the lowest qualified bidder for the 2012–17 contract, at just over $10.2 million for the five-year contract.

“We believe that the evidence the board will hear in this case will answer both questions affirmatively, that the owner-operators are employees under the act, and that their organization is and has been an employer organization as that term is defined by the act,” said Mr Murray in his opening remark before the labor board. “And as a consequence, the respondent violated the law when it refused or failed to bargain with the owner-operators prior to subcontracting.”

Mr Dugas also gave an opening remark before the labor board.

“We believe the evidence will show,” said Mr Dugas, “that, based upon the contract and among other things, how these folks hold themselves out to the State of Connecticut and to the United States government, when it cuts down to the chase, it is not about individuals providing services to employers, it is about individual business enterprises.”

Mr Dugas went on to say nearly one-third of the contracted owner-operators are limited liability corporations registered with the state and file taxes with business expenses written off.

“I would submit that is clearly not consistent with an employee/employer status relationship,” Mr Dugas concluded.

Owner-operator Carey Schierloh was the sole person called upon to speak as a witness during the roughly three-hour-long hearing.

The owner-operator system began in 1934 when the Board of Education first opened bids for transporting Newtown’s students, according to Town Historian Dan Cruson’s Educating Newtown’s Children: A History of Its Schools.

Over nearly 80 years, the owner-operator system grew to 33 contractors — all of whom operate like independent small businesses with their own vehicles, oversee maintenance responsibilities, and substitute drivers under their hire for approval by the school district.

Ms Schierloh explained during her testimony that she has been an owner-operator in the district since 1996, and was a spare driver in town for five years while she waited on a list to become an owner-operator.

During her testimony, Mr Murray presented paperwork, including contract committee meeting notes and owner-operator meeting notes, stored in Ms Schierloh’s filing cabinet over the years. Some of the paperwork dated back to 1997.

Ms Schierloh was also asked to explain some of the procedures and expectations placed on the owner-operators by the district. When asked if owner-operators and spare drivers are ever disciplined, Ms Schierloh said it is the school district administration that oversees the discipline.

“Sometimes there are fines. Sometimes there are suspensions. Sometimes there are terminations,” said Ms Schierloh.

When asked why the owner-operators had submitted a bid for the 2012–17 contract, Ms Schierloh responded, “Without submitting, you would not be considered at all.”

Hearing officers for the State Board of Labor Relations were Patricia Low, Wendella Ault Battey, and Barbara J. Collins, who at the start of the hearing announced she would act as impartially for the purpose of the hearing but made clear for the record that she has worked on cases with and against Mr Dugas. No one present voiced concern with her statement.

Mr Dugas will have the chance to pose questions to Ms Schierloh at a later hearing.

A transcript of the hearing will be available in roughly two weeks, according to the hearing reporter.

Future hearings are tentatively scheduled for February 15 and March 7, but the labor board said if other dates become available the two parties will be contacted with new dates.