School bus strike averted in Framingham and Westboro, still on in Marlboro

also breaking tonight. Metro West families caught in a back and forth between the bus drivers union and the nrt bus company. Here's where things stand right now. Drivers in Framingham have reached an agreement and will be on the job tomorrow. Drivers in Westboro are still working toward an agreement, but will not strike tomorrow. They'll keep driving while a deal is hammered out. In Marlboro, there is no agreement yet.

And at this point, drivers are planning to hit the picket line instead of climbing into their buses. They're planning to hit the picket line instead of climbing into their buses. Contract negotiations continue at this late hour. Good evening to you. I'm Ken McLeod. We want to get right to WBZ's Laura Hailey. She's live in Marlboro tonight where a marathon negotiating session drags on.

Laura, this has been a somewhat confusing night. It's been emotional and it's been an incredibly long night for everyone at the negotiating table and for the people impacted, including these students in these three different school districts. You mentioned them Framingham, Westboro and Marlboro. But as of right now, Marlboro is the only district tomorrow morning that will wake up without more than 50 bus drivers. For days, bus drivers in Framingham, Marlboro and Westboro have been at odds with their employer, NRT Bus Company. The two sides negotiating better wages for drivers. In the meantime, putting three school districts and their students at risk of losing transportation.

But as of Sunday night in the 11th hour, everything changed. Excuse me. I just talked to the business manager of the Teamsters. In the middle of a press conference to discuss the upcoming school week without bus drivers, Framingham Mayor Charlie Sositski got the call he'd been waiting for. They're going to sign the contract. Is that going to be a strike? The drivers union, local 170 and NRT Bus reached an agreement in Framingham. How much of an impact could this have had? Potentially we could have thousands of students not come to school for the duration that the strike may have lasted.

But what about the other two districts? Teamsters Officer Jim Marks updating reporters late Sunday night. Both Marlboro and Westboro are still negotiating and bus drivers plan to strike. At this time with the progress that we've made, it looks like there will be a strike tomorrow. Bus drivers have to be focused all the time and they have some of the most precious cargo that we have, right? Our own kids or our loved ones. So we're dedicated to get it done. We're dedicated to be here and hopefully NRT is as well. NRT Bus also released a statement writing in part, the attention now shifts to the Marlboro and Westboro contracts where the dedicated NRT team continues to focus on their number one priority, transporting children to and from school safely every day.

We're getting updates by the second here and Ken, as you mentioned, this is an incredibly complicated situation. So let's recap. Framingham will not strike tomorrow. They have reached an agreement. Westboro will not strike tomorrow, though negotiations are still on the table. Marlboro will strike tomorrow. Those bus drivers will be on the picket line.

We're told Marlboro does have contingency plans in place to get students to school. But Teamsters Officer tells us that they could be negotiating throughout the night into the morning. So all of this could still change. Of course, it's something we will keep an eye on in Marlboro or Haley WBC News.

WBZ News 11pm, school bus, strike, Marlboro, Westboro, Framingham