“Reinstated! Twenty-nine years! Twenty-nine years! 

Reinstated!”

The voice of Richmond Public Schools bus driver Cynthia Cole echoed through City Hall’s entryway Monday as she, four other drivers, and their supporters celebrated their rehiring following a tentative contract agreement between RPS and the drivers’ union.

Cole, who drives for Mary Munford Elementary School, was one of five RPS bus drivers who were fired in April after they and several other drivers “called out” of their after-school runs to speak against proposed pay changes during a Richmond School Board Meeting.

Dubbed “the RPS Five,” by their supporters, the drivers partnered with Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 804, the Richmond NAACP and Teamsters and other advocates to push for their reinstatement.

Over the weeks that followed, the group organized letter-writing campaigns, spoke at public meetings, and rallied community support. Those efforts culminated in a breakthrough: RPS and LIUNA Local 804 reached terms on a preliminary collective bargaining agreement, leading to the drivers’ official reinstatement Tuesday.

“Thank you to the public, thank you for all your undying support during this incredibly difficult time,” bus driver Kemia Williams said during a press conference held by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Virginia after the rehiring was announced. “Today, we resume our positions, get all of our hard-earned benefits back and have the opportunity to regain a sense of normalcy.”

As part of the new three-year agreement, LIUNA Local 804 agreed to a revised pay structure for after-school activity runs, dropping its request for a guaranteed two-hour minimum. Instead, drivers will be paid based on the actual time worked.

Though base pay remains unchanged, drivers’ daily work hours will be reduced from eight to six to limit overtime costs.

According to RPS, all transportation employees will receive a 7% raise during the 2026-27 school year, bringing the average driver’s salary to $51,540 annually.

“LIUNA gave a little bit, we gave a little bit and we met in the middle,” RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said during a press conference announcing the rehiring and the agreement, alongside RPS Board members, LIUNA Local 804 leaders, the reinstated drivers and their supporters. “And that’s what we, the adults, need to do on behalf of our kids.”

 The “RPS Five” — bus drivers fired April 25 following coordinated absences — leave City Hall to cheers after a press conference announcing their reinstatement under a new three-year collective bargaining agreement between Richmond Public Schools and LIUNA Local 804. The drivers return with six-hour shifts at full pay.
 

The finalized contract is still in the works, and RPS leaders are working to have it ratified and approved before the start of the fall school year. The rehired drivers, their supporters and union leaders, for their part, were pleased with the agreement reached so far.

“It was the core of the two-hour activities that got us over here and got us into this in the first place,” said Sonny Randolph, a driver who transports special education students for Henry Marsh III Elementary, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle and Armstrong High School. “So once that is resolved, to our satisfaction, then everybody’s cool.”