The Metro board's approval of fare increases and service cuts last Thursday did not go unchallenged. When security tried to prevent protesters from getting into the meeting, ATU Local 689 president Jackie Jeter "came to the demonstrators’ defense," reported The Washington Post, "and offered her seat to 23-year-old activist Chauniece Jones of Southeast Washington, who was allowed in. Jones wore a shirt that read, in part, 'vote no fare hikes.'” “We’re the ones affected by it. Not them,” Jones (in red cap) said of the board. “Without us, how are y’all making money? So the train’s just going to operate by itself with no people on the train?” Jeter -- who's also president of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO -- said the budget-approval process showed that Metro officials ignored the will of employees and the riding public.
photo by Faiz Siddiqui, The Washington Post
photo by Faiz Siddiqui, The Washington Post