Press Release: DC Circulator Workers at Private Contractor RATP Dev Fight for Fair Contract

(Forestville, Maryland) March 31st, 2022 – ATU Local 689 members at DC Circulator, employed by the private contractor RATP Dev, are currently fighting for a fair contract that brings them up to wage and benefit parity with other transit workers in this region. For years, DC Circulator bus operators have driven some of the same passengers as WMATA workers, on the same streets as WMATA workers, but have been underpaid and overworked by RATP Dev in order to line the pockets of their wealthy executives and lawyers.

Local 689’s collective bargaining agreement with RATP Dev expires today.

RATP Dev hired McMahon Berger, the union busting law firm from Missouri, to bargain with their employees. This was the exact same negotiating team used by Transdev before the 85 day long strike at Cinder Bed bus garage. RATP Dev waited all the way until March 29th to even submit economic proposals to union members despite meeting with us at the table since March 1st. Their rationale for delaying was that they didn’t want to “insult us” with lowball offers but then have repeatedly proposed a 1% wage increase for top operators. With inflation at the highest level in decades, this is tantamount to a 7% pay cut and only puts them further behind their peers. Currently wages and benefits at DC Circulator fall far behind other systems in the region. This has resulted in workers leaving to find better prospects elsewhere. When ATU Local 689 organizers went out to visit members at the 17th Street Garage and ensure that workers understood their rights to drive safe buses, RATP Dev management decided to call the police. Members routinely complain about unsafe buses, including those with cracked windshields, bald tires, check engine lights, broken horns, and more.

There has been a CDL shortage across the country, but especially in this region, since 2019. Recently, the Montgomery County Council voted to approve $8.6 million in supplemental appropriations to fund wage and benefit increases to approach parity with WMATA workers. While other transit systems have responded to this reality by offering hiring bonuses and raising wages, RATP Dev insists on sticking its head in the sand and denying there’s a problem. The DC Circulator is just another example of how privatization is a failed model for public transit. Cost savings can only be achieved by attacking transit workers or by providing sub-par service to riders. ATU Local 689 calls upon the DC Council and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to ensure that sufficient money is in the Circulator contract to fully fund wage and benefit parity with WMATA.

“How are you going to tell me to my face that a 1% wage increase for senior operators isn’t insulting? Gas, food, and housing are all up by way more than that?” said CJ Miller, Bus Operator and Local 689 Shop Steward.

“We know that transit workers in this region are united in the fight to make sure that no one in our industry lives in poverty.” said Raymond Jackson, President and Business Agent for ATU Local 689. “Our members have repeatedly shown over the last five years that we’re willing to do what it takes to make these companies treat us with respect.”

“I’ve given over a decade of my life to the DC Circulator, helping move the commuters, tourists, and riders of this region. We now realize that all the talk about us being ‘essential workers’ or ‘heroes’ was just talk. If you really believe that, show it in my paycheck.” said Alletha Ballard, Bus Operator.

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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.