City Hall dropped a ball and 150,000 children were stranded in school

The Legislature’s ongoing erosion of mayoral control, the union’s push to protect outrageous privileges and the chaos at City Hall are credited with a showdown that threatens to tear apart 150,000 of the city’s children by the end of the week.

Proximate cause: Amalgamated Transportation Union 1181’s claim for employee protection rules that violate state law.

The union convinced enough members of the Education Policy Commission, which oversees the city’s education department, to do so Refusal to renew yellow bus contracts for the normal five years until they impose illegal and costly “seniority privilege” rules.

Instead, the PEP has voted on temporary contracts monthly since June, hoping the Legislature would pass a state law to legalize such rules (though it has rejected it for more than a decade) — and City Hall has been so caught up in yet another drama that it has been unable to convene a commission.

A frustrated group of school bus companies now threatens to suspend student transportation – furloughing 12,000 unionized workers and leaving 150,000 children without service – unless the EPP agrees to the five-year deals negotiated by the city council without the illegal concessions.

Companies need new long-term commitments so they can maintain workforce stability and cover the costs of acquiring and maintaining new electric bus fleets as mandated by state climate laws.

A loosened Mayoral Control Act allows Mayor Eric Adams to appoint a slim majority of the 24 EPP members, but the City Council has left three seats vacant, and some Adams appointees are asserting independence from the lame-duck mayor.

Under the influence of ATU 1181 and its allies, PEP rebels hope to undo the gains made by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in breaking the union’s stranglehold on industry and dramatically cutting costs in 2013.

Considering that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s hesitation on the issue left as many as two-thirds of the city’s contracted bus companies still operating renewed versions of old buses. illegal Seniority privileges.

Fingers crossed: City Hall appears to be working on an agreement that the PEP will approve this week One year Renewing contracts, allowing companies to do what they need to do and at least delay things.

But this is just a glimpse of the chaos to come if Zahran Mamdani manages to eliminate the mayor’s control: special interests will eat the system alive, at the expense of taxpayers and school children.