After more than a year of negotiations, Richmond Public Schools and the union representing its transportation workers — Laborers’ International Union of North America, LiUNA Local 804 — have reached final terms on their first-ever collective bargaining agreement.
In a joint press conference Monday, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said both sides “gave a little bit” to ensure a smooth start to the upcoming school year.
Labor negotiations started in November 2023 but hit an impasse in fall 2024, with disagreements regarding the school district’s overtime pay structure. A transportation overtime tracking audit found that since 2019, bus driver OT expenses have exceeded $7 million.
Keon Shim, Local 804’s business manager, said this agreement has been a long time coming, and he is “confident” that it leaves everyone involved in a good position.
RPS drivers will see a 7% pay increase for the 2026-27 school year, bringing the average bus driver salary to $51,540 annually. In total, RPS bus drivers have received a 23% increase in salary over the last three years.
Another key part of the deal reinstates five RPS bus drivers who were fired back in April, after the district said their call-outs to attend a school board meeting led to the cancellation of after-school activities and violated Virginia Code.
The drivers, who’ve become known as the RPS 5, have decades of collective experience and service with the district.
“For many of them, this is a job that they've held for decades,” Shim said. “It's not only a job to them, it's pretty much their life. Today, the drivers are very excited to get back to work and get back to working with the students once again.”
Sonny Randolph — who was employed by RPS for 11 years prior to his April firing — said he was feeling excited about getting back to work.
“I think my students will be really happy to see me back on the bus,” said Randolph, whose route services children with disabilities.
The drivers returned to work on July 1 with the new fiscal year. In a text message, Shim told VPM News that the district has agreed to pay half of the backpay owed to the RPS 5.
VPM News asked Kamras if RPS stood by its original decision to terminate the bus drivers, to which he said: “That particular decision, I think, is something that the two sides are going to agree to disagree on.”
New overtime pay structure
To resolve the overtime dispute, all RPS school bus drivers have agreed to accept a new six-hour pay contract, a change from the district’s current eight-hour contracts.
In another change, the district’s bus drivers will no longer receive a flat two hours of overtime pay for voluntary after-school activity runs. Instead, drivers will now be paid for the actual time they worked in quarter-hour intervals.
“LiUNA has agreed to no longer pursue the automatic two hours of pay for after-school runs, which was a key sticking point for us here at RPS,” Kamras said.
In an April 2025 email obtained by VPM News, Kamras said that the automatic two hours of overtime pay — regardless of actual time worked — was not “fiscally responsible” or “equitable.”
According to an October 2024 board presentation, the average take-home pay for drivers — including OT — was was $40,099 in FY19, $52,110 in FY20, $53,665 in FY21, $68,532 in FY22, $70,085 in FY23 and $85,347 in FY24. (Virginia’s fiscal year runs July 1–June 30.)
Both LiUNA and RPS said they are committed to collaborating in order to best serve RPS students and families.
“Going forward, our goal is to make sure that there are no interruptions, and that's our joint commitment,” Kamras said.
According to Shim, there are articles in the agreement that “make sure that things will be a lot better moving forward with the process in place.”
Kamras said his goal is for the CBS to be finalized and voted on by the Richmond City School Board before the first day of school on Aug. 18. Once approved, the labor contract will last through the end of the 2026–27 school year.
