(Forestville, Maryland) January 18th, 2022 – Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 has worked with General Manager Paul Wiedefeld for over six years. Our relationship started off as one based on constant conflict between our vision for the future of public transit in this region and his. Our union members repeatedly called for his resignation and viewed his early projects as direct attacks on the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain. We had to fight to preserve public transit as a public service run by public workers, while Wiedefeld and the WMATA Board fought for privatization. Our WMATA members even voted to authorize an unprecedented strike in 2018, during our negotiations with the authority.  

Despite this history, we’re proud to say that over the last two years we have had a productive working relationship that has allowed us to resolve many of these disputes amicably before they rose to the level of open conflict. Working with GM Paul Wiedefeld, we were able to resolve the historic Cinder Bed Road strike and bring that garage back in-house to WMATA. We were able to implement policies during the COVID19 pandemic that saved lives and helped protect WMATA workers and their families. We were able to agree to the framework of a collective bargaining agreement that protected our work from privatization. 

That is not to say that we still do not have our differences with the General Manager. We still disagree on a variety of issues, but we’re confident in saying that the open line of communication that GM Paul Wiedefeld has maintained with us over the past two years has helped avoid problems and deliver better service to the riding public. 

Over 8,000 of our WMATA members now look to the WMATA Board of Directors and urge them to find a suitable replacement for the outgoing General Manager. The next General Manager should learn from Wiedefeld’s working relationship with ATU Local 689 if they hope to avoid some of the mistakes made in his early days.The next few years ahead will be challenging, but we’re confident in saying that WMATA is a better system when it values and listens to the opinions of those that do the work that keeps this region moving. 

### 

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 is comprised of 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.