Palmdale School Bus Company Announces Layoffs

The loss of a contract with the Palmdale Unified School District by a bus transportation company may result in the loss of 133 jobs in the Antelope Valley city. First Student, a division of FirstGroup plc, in the United Kingdom, notified the state’s Employment Development Department on May 7 about the layoffs at the firm’s Palmdale facility at 919 E. Avenue P-8. “As many as 133 employees total may be subjected to a layoff,” the company said in its letter. “However, it is probable that First Student may have transfer opportunities available for many employees at other facilities.” Nearly all the employees, many of them drivers or monitors, are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 572. The layoffs are expected to take place on or about June 30. The school district awarded the three-year contract to First Student in May 2016 to provide home-to-school transportation for regular and special education pupils and other transportation services such as co-curricular trips. The FirstGroup website claims that First Student is the largest provider of student transportation in North America.