Political Orgnizing

Being in a Union is about building power for working people— both inside and outside the workplace.

ATU Local 689 is proud to be at the forefront of the fights for social, economic, and racial justice. That means recentering our politics around working people and our demands by mobilizing and activating our communities. Specifically, we do this by:

  • Advocating directly to elected officials on pressing issues.

  • Working with coalitions to advance transit, economic justice, and racial equity.

  • Endorsing and electing pro-worker and pro-transit candidates.

  • Talking to our members at worksites, passing out flyers, and mailing our members to ensure that they know about upcoming elections and candidate’s positions on our issues.

  • Organizing and attending rallies, events, and actions.

If you are a 689 member interested in getting more engaged, please become a member of our Political and Legislative Activist Network (PLAN)

ATU Local 689 Coalitions and Campaigns

Below are all of ATU Local 689’s current advocacy campaigns, partners, and coalitions. Click on each to find out more!

Policy and Position Papers

The False Promise of Microtransit.

The ATU’s Report on the Emerging Trend of Microtransit

Sounding the alarm on the growing use of microtransit, an app-based, on-demand service, by transit agencies, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the largest transit union in North America, has released a new paper, The False Promise of Microtransit. Local 689 has seen the effects of microtransit right here in the DMV. Just this past year, the DC Council’s Public Works and Operations Committee found that “98 percent of trips that were taken on DC Neighborhood Connect in 2023 could be completed with existing WMATA service,” showing that the service was effectively serving as a costly substitute that undermined support and ridership in MetroBus and MetroAccess.

The report presents a comprehensive critique of microtransit’s operational shortcomings, citing concrete examples from cities across North America. It also offers recommendations for how the service, if implemented, could be utilized responsibly. According to the report, microtransit should not be used to replace, or compete with, fixed route and ADA paratransit services. Cannibalizing mass transit options with low-occupancy, inefficient trips is not a viable long-term strategy to grow ridership. Moreover, agencies should ensure that microtransit is operated in-house by experienced transit workers in line with existing wages, benefits, and working conditions. Microtransit drivers should not be stuck in exploitive independent contractor or gig worker employment arrangements, and should instead be allowed to have good transit jobs with highroad labor standards.

Fix It. Fund It. Make It Fair.

Our Report to Repair WMATA and Expand Public Transit

This is clearly a pivotal moment for WMATA and the millions of people who rely on it annually. We need to make the system safer, and this process cannot be done without the full participation of the men and women on the frontlines every day. The agency’s leadership tell riders it is time for a “reality check,” citing the need for all of us to dig deeper into our pockets for the privilege of waiting longer for the train, or walking even further to find a bus stop where we can get a ride to work. Pay more, get less, they say. This is a false choice. The key to restoring WMATA is to bring back our customers, and that can only happen if they are provided with safe, affordable, reliable, and convenient transit service. Driving our remaining riders away is a ridiculous plan that is sure to bury the system.

Instead, we need to immediately provide incentives for people to come back to Metro – by putting money in their pocket rather than taking it out. Slashing fares instead of service will quickly result in a reversal of fortune for the agency, and we will soon be talking about the need to add more trains and buses in order to accommodate our new riders. This would indeed be a wonderful problem to have. Metro has tools at its disposal – both financial and within its own workforce – to turn this situation around. It’s time for the public to demand that the agency does everything it can to use its resources wisely​

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Fix it.

1) Establish WMATA Assessment Districts (WADs) to generate predicable transit funding in a far more equitable manner.
2) Dedicate nominal rental car taxes from current Metrorail stop Reagan National Airport and future Metrorail stop Dulles Airport for WMATA operations.
3) Amend federal law to allow larger transit systems, including WMATA, to use their FTA funds for operations in crisis situations.
4) Use the maximum amount of FTA funds for paratransit operating assistance under new federal law.
5) Flex FTA funds for preventive maintenance costs to fullest extent possible.
6) Pass legislation (MD and VA) recently adopted in D.C. requiring employers with 20 or more employees to offer pre-tax or subsidized commuter benefits for use on WMATA.

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Fund it.

1) Establish labor-management partnerships on all safety matters.
2) Adopt safety recommendations of the TRACS Committee.
3) Bring MetroAccess operations in house and deal with scheduling, qualifications, training, equipment, deadheading, etc.

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Make it fair.

1) Reject service cuts and fare increases.
2) Implement modified flat fare system.
3) Allow free transfers from local bus-to-rail, rail-to local bus or local bus-to-local bus within two hours of the time you paid your fare.
4) Implement a system that takes into account passengers’ ability to pay, rather than simply on their ages.
5) Expand hours of operation.