By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis Public Schools are sticking to a regular schedule, despite an un-authorized strike by some Laidlaw school bus drivers.
Laidlaw, the nation's largest school bus company, was purchased by First Student in February.
Now Laidlaw employees claim that First Student is paying its drivers more, and will not extend those wages to Laidlaw drivers because they are unionized.
A driver identifying herself only as "Mrs. Brown" says the job warrants much more than the 12 dollars per hour that Laidlaw drivers make.
"Most of the drivers are up at 4:30 in the morning and are here until until 10:00. Then we have charters, some drivers don't even get to go home, we barely get to eat and you're always tired," says Brown.
The drivers are saying that they will continue the strike for on Tuesday, despite the objection of their union.
The company is doubling and tripling routes to ensure that all students have a ride to and from school.
Deborah Sistrunk, a spokeswoman for St. Louis Public Schools says the district is making special considerations for late buses.
"We are letting parents know that buses may be running late so we are advising parents to either stay with their child at the bus stop or drive to drive their children to school if they can do so," says Sistrunk.
Sistrunk says attendance was down slightly on Monday. She's asking parents to make special accommodations including car-pooling.
Families in need of transportation assistance should call 314-367-6074.