Keolis Continues to Bargain in Bad Faith, Prolonging Work Stoppage
(Forestville, Maryland) February 2nd, 2023 – After over three weeks of work stoppage, representatives for Loudoun County Transit workers from the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689 sat down with Loudoun County’s contractor, Keolis, today to try to finally reach an agreement for a fair contract. Leadership and members alike had high hopes after careful consideration that their latest proposal was well-crafted and would be accepted, thereby ending the work stoppage and getting service up and running again. Unfortunately, Keolis once again decided to delay negotiations altogether– demonstrating either an astounding financial illiteracy, bad faith negotiating tactics, or a mixture of both.
This inexplicable delay of negotiations will ensure that the work stoppage continues and further underscores the company’s unwillingness to deal with workers while even pretending to be working in good faith. Keolis had already arbitrarily delayed any kind of negotiations when it gave an unacceptable and substandard offer to Union representatives on January 12th and thereafter refused to set dates to continue bargaining. Instead, it deemed its proposal the “last, best, and final” offer and falsely claimed that it could not further negotiate with the Union at least until January 27th.
“Once again, this contractor has walked away from the bargaining table,” said ATU Local 689 President Raymond Jackson. “In the process, they have left the riding public and workers cold on the side of the road.”
After months of fruitless contract talks, the frustrated Loudoun County bus operators, mechanics, dispatchers, and other transit workers had walked off the job on Wednesday, January 11th. On November 9, 2022, they voted over 96% in favor of authorizing a strike.
Keolis has failed to properly staff up in preparation for the opening of the Silver Line Phase II in Loudoun County. This has been primarily due to the low wages and subpar benefits provided by the company that places Loudoun County Transit as the lowest-paying transit agency in the region.
In April 2021, Keolis first took over the operation of the county’s transit service after submitting the lowest bid among all companies vying to win the contract. At that time, Keolis refused to recognize the existence of the Union in the workplace and did not adopt the union contract that was already in place. Keolis unilaterally slashed benefits like retirement and health insurance and began to impose a number of cuts on the workforce, such as the elimination of a weekly guarantee of work hours.
Keolis forced the workers to hold another union election to recertify the bargaining unit. In April of 2022, Loudoun County Transit workers voted 95% in favor of the Union, confirming that they continue to be represented by the ATU. Since then, Keolis has been delaying progress at the bargaining table by continuing to violate federal labor law at a staggering pace, with the National Labor Relations Board having found merit to at least 4 different Unfair Labor Practice Charges against Keolis in Loudoun County.
Nonetheless, the Union stands ready to negotiate in good faith with Keolis as soon as the Company decides to stop its deliberate stonewalling.
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Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 has more than 15,000 members and retirees performing occupations within the many skilled transportation crafts for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), MetroAccess, DASH, and the DC Circulator and Streetcar among others. A member of the Amalgamated Transit Union (AFL-CIO/CLC), the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the United States and Canada, Local 689 was established on January 19, 1916. For more information please visit our website at atulocal689.org.
