BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The Bethlehem Area School District board voted 7-0 Monday to approve a three-year contract with Teamsters Local 773, the union for the district’s bus drivers, van drivers and bus monitors.
The terms match those recommended Aug. 31 by a fact-finder, an outside expert the state labor board appointed after talks stalled. “Nothing changed from the FF report,” district Communications Manager Jennifer LoConte-Kugler said in an email Wednesday.
The board accepted them 8-0 on Sept. 8, but the union rejected them, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board said Sept. 11. State law then required a second answer, and the union voted Sept. 21 to accept, LoConte-Kugler said. Monday’s vote approved the contract itself.
The agreement runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029, according to the board’s Oct. 19 agenda packet, which includes the full contract. The fact-finder’s report said it covers about 160 workers.
Pay rises 3% back to July 1, 2026, then 1% on Jan. 1, 2027, 4% on July 1, 2027, 3% on July 1, 2028 and 1% on Jan. 1, 2029. Together those add up to about 12.6% by January 2029, based on the contract’s percentages.
The district estimates the contract will cost about $725,000, its communications manager said. She did not say whether that covers all three years or compares it with the expired contract.
Employees with employee-only medical, prescription and dental coverage pay $26 per bi-weekly payroll contribution ($520 a year) through Dec. 31, 2026, the contract says. That rises to $27 on Jan. 1, 2027, $29 on July 1, 2027 and $30 ($600 a year) on July 1, 2028.
LoConte-Kugler did not give the union’s vote count.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement and grateful to our transportation employees for the important role they play in our school community,” Superintendent Renato Lajara said in the district’s release.
The previous contract expired June 30. Talks began Oct. 1, 2025, and about 100 proposals were still open when fact-finder Barbara Lichtman held a hearing Aug. 13, her report said.
The contract changes work rules. Employees may win no more than two regular daily route bids a school year in each of two run categories: morning-and-afternoon runs, and midday or after-school runs. A bid is the seniority-based way drivers pick routes. Casual employees, who are not available five days a week, are separated from employment if they give availability but miss work three times.
The contract also adds Martin Luther King’s Birthday as a paid holiday for regular and stand-by drivers and monitors, and creates a labor-management committee. It must form within 30 days of ratification and meet at least quarterly.
The board also voted 7-0 Monday on an agreement with First Student Inc. for as-needed alternative transportation through June 30, 2029. The agenda describes it as covering small runs for students experiencing homelessness and students with special needs, freeing bus drivers for other routes.
