The Amalgamated Transit Union and its D.C. Local 689 is blasting a reported plan hatched by right-wingers to rivatize Washington’s Metro system, including the buses and the subway. The Metro board has already turned over one garage, in suburban Virginia to privatizers. Privatizing would cut service to Metro’s hundreds of thousands of daily riders, the union said. The subway, despite recent declines, is among the three busiest in the U.S., and Metrobus carries hundreds of thousands more.
“If you sit in the windowless boardroom of” Metro headquarters, “you’d think ‘privatization’ is a silver bullet that will magically eliminate costs and restore ridership to its heyday,” said Local 689 president Raymond Jackson. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” The solutions are expanded and improved service, like in Seattle and Houston, he said. That means more investment in repairs and upgrades – and in union workers and their wages. “Transit experts know how to fix this,” he said. So does Jackson’s local, which made the same recommendations last year, and so does Metro staff, unlike its management, he added. Get the latest local labor events at dclabor.org; click on Calendar. In today’s labor history, on this date in 2013, an explosion at a West Texas fertilizer plant killed 15 people and injured nearly 300 when 30 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate—stored in sheds without sprinkler systems—caught fire. Of those killed, ten were emergency responders. For today’s labor quote is by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said: “Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.” Union City Radio is supported by our friends at Union Plus. If you’re thinking about a spring road trip, don’t leave town without your Union Plus car rental savings! Union members save up to 25% on rental rates. Visit unionplus.org/carrental.
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