The union representing school bus mechanics is happy the provincial government has acknowledged a staffing shortage.

School bus repairs have been an ongoing issue in New Brunswick, but CUPE Local 1190 president Jonathan Guimond said he’s thankful Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson recognized the challenges the union has faced.

“Recruitment and retention in the trades are essential for Local 1190,” Guimond said in a statement. “We need qualified workers available to deliver these important and essential services.

The local met recently with representatives of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and other CUPE locals to review resource allocations within the collective agreement aimed at improving efficiency in bus breakdown response and repair operations.

Repair services have been fully restored, but the staffing shortages remain a barrier to restoring the services to 100 per cent.

A press release from the union said a recent five per cent retention and recruitment wage adjustment for mechanics has helped generate interest in recruiting automotive service technicians on the condition they get a truck and transport certification.

But CUPE said it’s still not enough to attract and retain fully certified truck and transport mechanics. The release they’re needed to resolve the shortage of staff qualified to perform safety inspections on buses.

Those workers are also required to support apprentices during the four- to five-year certification process and maintaining daily operations.

“We need the Vehicle Management Agency’s directors to consider additional wage adjustments if we want to restore services to 100 per cent,” Guimond said. “That level of reliability is owed to the families who put their kids on the buses every day.”