Press Release: Strikes Work! MetroAccess Call Center Workers Win 12% Raises in One-Year Contract
(Hyattsville, Maryland) August 2nd, 2021 – ATU Local 689 members working for MV Transportation at WMATA’s MetroAccess Operations Control Center voted to approve a one-year collective bargaining agreement that guarantees them substantial wage rate increases, strengthened seniority provisions, increased employer 401(k) retirement contributions, remote work provisions, and workplace protections. MV Transportation is a private contractor that provides dispatch, reservation, and scheduling services for all of WMATA’s MetroAccess paratransit system. Workers at the call center consistently raised concerns about a lack of respect by management and unfair labor practices that prevented them from reaching a new collective bargaining agreement. In one bargaining session, a representative from MV Transportation told workers that they were paid what they were worth and implied that they were uneducated. A tentative agreement was reached on July 21st 2021. Workers then voted on July 30th, 2021 unanimously to approve the new contract. Local 689 members at the call center have been without a contract since April 2020. On May 14th, Local 689 members went out on a one day strike against the unfair labor practices of their employer. Workers walked off the job and onto the picket line, showing both the company and WMATA that MetroAccess workers were willing to do whatever it takes to get the contract they deserve. This was the first strike of a MetroAccess contractor since the creation of the privatized system by WMATA in 1994.
“Let this be a warning to all MetroAccess contractors in this region. Workers are sick and tired of being mistreated, disrespected, overworked, and underpaid. There isn’t a worker shortage in this country. There is a shortage of workers that are willing to put up with poverty wages,” said Raymond Jackson, President Business Agent for ATU Local 689. “This is just the beginning. Paratransit workers have been left behind for too long. Our union won’t stop until we’ve turned paratransit jobs into a pathway to the middle class. Our paratransit workers, whether they’re dispatchers, reservationists, or drivers, are an essential part of keeping this region moving forward and it's time their paychecks reflected that.”
“We’ve been fighting for so long to be heard. I’m proud of what we won,” said Tonia White, an MV Call Center worker and shop leader for the union. “Turnover at the call center was very high. Many people just couldn’t handle working there and said that it wasn’t worth the pay. By striking we showed MV Transportation and this whole region that we were serious.”
“Our brothers and sisters showed solidarity, resolve and unity on the picket line and throughout their campaign for this contract,” said ATU International President John Costa. “They have been working throughout the pandemic to ensure the people who depend on MetroAccess can get to the doctor, grocery store, and other important appointments. They deserve this contract which treats them like the heroes they are.”
This isn’t the first time transit workers in this region have gone on strike. Since 2019, workers have been forced to go on strike at the Fairfax Connector, Omniride, and the 85-day long WMATA Cinder Bed Bus Garage strike that ended in victory when WMATA agreed to end privatization in the Metrobus and Metrorail systems.
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Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 is comprised of more than 13,000 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.
