(Forestville, Maryland) July 20th, 2022 – Last week, ATU Local 689 members at WMATA’s MetroAccess Operations Control Center, employed by the private contractor MV Transportation, voted 98% in favor of authorizing a strike, if necessary, to win the fair contract that they deserve. These members include over 100 paratransit dispatchers, schedulers, and reservationists. After multiple rounds of bargaining, MV Transportation still has not put forward proposals that recognize the degree to which our members have been underpaid and undervalued for years. Local 689’s collective bargaining agreement with the company expired on June 30th. An extension to that agreement expired on July 13th. Our next bargaining date is on July 29th.

Last year, MV Call Center workers went on a one-day strike and were successful in winning a fair contract that helped improve their wages, benefits, and rights on the job. Three weeks ago, Local 689 members at the MetroAccess Hubbard Road facility also voted to strike, if necessary, to win a fair contract. We still believe that privatization is a misguided approach to public transit, especially for vital services like MetroAccess.

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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.