All school buses will be running as scheduled Thursday morning after the union representing drivers reached a tentative agreement with bus company First Student Canada Wednesday night

The deal averted a possible strike that could have affected more than 10,000 students from schools in Scarborough and Durham Region, where 28 schools from both the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School board could have been without buses.

“We’ve been able to reach, in the ninth hour, a bargaining committee unanimously recommended tentative agreement,” said Unifor Local 4268 president Debbie Montgomery.

The union representing 260 drivers issued a strike notice last week demanding for decent wages and better working conditions. Under the previous contract, drivers are only paid from the point they pick up the first student to the moment they drop off the last child off and were unpaid for time in between for travelling from home to the first pick-up or performing vehicle maintenance.

Montgomery said unpaid hours make it difficult to recruit new bus drivers, leading to school bus shortages like the one that affected Toronto last year.

Naureem Rizvi, Unifor’s Ontario regional director, said the deal not only addresses their key concerns but it better reflects the hours the drivers work.

“When you count up all the hours worked and the pay they receive, they are working for less than minimum wage,” said Rizvi in a statement. “It’s a full time commitment for part time pay.”

Durham Student Transportation Services said school bus service will continue uninterrupted for all routes serviced by First Student Ajax and First Student Brooklin.

Unifor said details of the deal will be released after ratification votes are cast in the coming days.

With files from Canadian Press