Arlington Transit (ART) workers are threatening to strike over a dispute about pay and work conditions.
About 80 ART workers staged a “practice picket” before dawn yesterday (Monday) in a show of solidarity and a signal that they are prepared to escalate the conflict with their county-contracted employer, France-based transportation company Transdev.
“We want fair wages, good health benefits so everyone can take care of their families,” Rebecca Fishburne, who has worked as an ART bus operator for 15 years, told ARLnow. “Everything’s going up, except our paycheck.”
The current dispute comes after ART employees overwhelmingly voted last spring to join the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which also represents transit workers in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, as well as the City of Alexandria and DC Circulator.
It mirrors another labor dispute with Transdev earlier this year in Fairfax County. There, Fairfax Connector workers halted bus services for 15 days during a strike.
Transdev, which is responsible for ART operations and maintenance, did not respond to a request for comment on this story. County spokesperson Katie O’Brien issued the following statement to ARLnow.
Arlington County supports compensation for Transdev operators and other staff that will provide competitive wages so we can continue to attract and retain qualified staff for our ART bus service.
Arlington County supports the ongoing process and is hopeful that the negotiation between Transdev and ATU Local 689 will result in a fair agreement for all parties that will support our world-class transit system. To say more at this time could complicate next week’s discussions.
ART union members — consisting of roughly 114 full-time bus operators, 20 part-time operators, and 20 mechanics — have argued that Transdev’s latest contract proposal keeps their wages among the lowest for transit workers region-wide.
The union is pushing for a starting hourly wage of $24.98 for ART bus operators with a commercial driver’s license and at least one year of experience, rising to a top rate of $38.43 for those with six or more years.
For context, according to the union, Alexandria’s DASH bus drivers start at $25.70 per hour after one year, rising to $39.54 after six years. D.C. Circulator drivers earn $27.27 per hour with one year of experience, increasing to $36.06 after six.
Matt Girardi, a spokesperson for ATU Local 689, claims that negotiations with Transdev stalled last month when the company allegedly canceled a planned meeting with the union. The meeting has been rescheduled to next Wednesday (Sept. 25).
“They’re running the same exact playbook that they ran in Fairfax, which is greatly disturbing,” he told ARLnow. “I don’t think that they’ve been up front with the county about… what it would cost to run a service where transit workers are getting paid living wages, and that operations are functioning at the kind of frequency and efficiency that we would expect.”
While Girardi said his union has had productive discussions with Arlington County Board members, workers have been unable to secure a meeting with County Manager Mark Schwartz due to their status as non-county employees.
“Effectively they said, ‘Y’all aren’t county employees, so we think it is inappropriate to interfere in… negotiations at this time. Best of luck to you,'” he said.
Girardi argued that without a significant pay increase, more ART workers will be forced to undertake lengthy commutes from places with lower costs of living. He noted that some employees already travel to work from as far away as Maryland and West Virginia.
“It’s unsustainable,” Girardi said. “Drivers who even do make that long trek, it puts tremendous strain on them, on their families, in a way that’s not healthy for them, but also not healthy for the system.”
Fishburne, who travels from Maryland for work five days a week, said that the increasing cost of living has made it harder to live off of her current salary. She hopes a pay increase would allow her to reduce her work hours and spend more quality time with her four grandchildren.
“We want to be treated fairly like our other location, Fairfax Connector,” Fishburne said. “We’re the same company, but they want to pay us lower wages. We do the same job as Metro, as everyone else, and it’s not fair.”
