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About 300 Seattle Public Schools bus drivers have authorized a strike against Zūm Services, the district’s transportation contractor, after negotiations over retirement contributions stalled, Teamsters Local 174 said this week.
Jamie Fleming, a spokesperson for the Teamsters, said Zūm is “refusing to allocate funds for workers’ retirement as the law requires,” adding that the company’s “continued refusal to bargain in good faith now has the group of 300 drivers on the brink of a major strike action.” No strike date has been set.
The retirement contribution is described by the union as the single outstanding issue. That matches Zūm’s own account: in a statement, the company said it is “disappointed that negotiations have reached this point and remain focused on reaching an agreement that avoids a strike,” adding that “only one issue remains unresolved” and that it is “prepared to return to the bargaining table at any time.” Seattle Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment, according to KIRO 7, which first reported the strike authorization on September 22, 2026.
A parity law written for exactly this dispute
The fight traces back to House Bill 1248, the state law requiring companies that contract with school districts to provide bus drivers benefits equivalent to those of drivers employed directly by the district. The law was meant to close a gap that let private operators underbid on labor costs. The Teamsters’ position is that Zūm’s retirement offer falls short of that standard; Zūm has not disputed that HB 1248 sets the floor, only that it says the sides are down to one line item.
This is not the first time HB 1248 has pushed Seattle school transportation to the edge of a walkout. In spring 2025, drivers for First Student — the district’s other major contractor, which at the time ran roughly half of Seattle Public Schools’ routes and carried about 3,700 students — authorized a strike over the same benefits-parity law. That dispute was resolved at the table; drivers reported to work as scheduled after the contract deadline passed, and a deal followed.
Zūm’s footprint has grown since its own first fight with the Teamsters
Zūm has been through this before. In June 2023, nearly 150 of the company’s Seattle drivers voted 95% to authorize a strike during first-contract negotiations, with the union at the time accusing Zūm of an “unrealistically low bid” that shortchanged pay and working conditions. That dispute was also resolved without a walkout.
Zūm’s position in the district has expanded considerably since then. The company has touted a partnership with Seattle Public Schools covering more than 280 routes, and it has run seasonal hiring drives to staff up ahead of the school year — meaning a strike now would land on a much larger share of the district’s transportation network than the 2023 dispute did.
What a walkout would mean for families
Seattle Public Schools has said in past driver disputes that it does not anticipate service disruption but prepares contingency plans and will notify affected families directly if a strike occurs; the district has not yet issued a statement specific to this Zūm dispute. In the comparable First Student standoff last year, a driver described ferrying children with special needs to school as part of her daily route — a reminder that any interruption to contracted bus service falls hardest on students who have the fewest alternative ways to get to class, including special-education riders whose transportation is often written into their individualized education plans.
The dispute also lands in a district already under financial strain: Seattle Public Schools warned in late August 2026 that its budget situation was severe enough to threaten a separate strike by teachers. Whether that backdrop makes Zūm’s contract talks with the Teamsters easier or harder to resolve is, for now, an open question — neither side has connected the two disputes publicly.
Daily Snack News will update this story as negotiations continue and if a strike date is announced.
