Press Release: MetroAccess Hubbard Road Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize Strike, If Necessary
(Forestville, Maryland) June 30th, 2022 – Yesterday, ATU Local 689 members at WMATA’s MetroAccess Hubbard Road Facility, employed by the private contractor Transdev, voted 96% in favor of authorizing a strike, if necessary, to win the fair contract that they deserve. These members include over 200 paratransit drivers, utility, dispatchers, maintenance workers, and road supervisors. After weeks of negotiations it seems clear that Transdev is not serious about reaching a settlement. Local 689’s collective bargaining agreement with Transdev expires on June 30th.
Paratransit workers have been overworked and underpaid for years while still getting the riding public where they need to go. These workers are an integral part of the region’s transportation infrastructure that help get those with disabilities, the elderly, and the sick to wherever they need to go. The same company that thanked our members for being essential workers now disrespects them at the bargaining table.
For well over a year, Transdev employees have been forced to work overtime to help the company compensate for short staffing. Transdev has been offering $4000 signing bonuses that have failed to convince anyone to take these stressful jobs. Transdev even raised starting wages to $20 per hour in Baltimore but refuses to do so in the DC area, despite our higher cost of living. Our members love their jobs and care deeply about their passengers, but you can’t pay your rent with emotional fulfillment!
Local 689 believes that this is just another example of privatization as a failed model for public services. Transdev has repeatedly tried to profit off of the work of our members, public taxpayer dollars, and payments from the riding public. Transdev is the same private contractor that led to the 85 day long strike at WMATA’s Cinder Bed Bus Garage. That strike was only ended once WMATA agreed to a negotiated settlement with ATU Local 689 that ended its privatization plans and brought the work in-house. Transdev is currently represented in negotiations by the same union-busting law firm that represented them during the 2019 Cinder Bed strike and represented RATP Dev during the 2022 Circulator strike.
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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.
