Metro Workers Threaten Massive 'Sick-Out' Throughout DC

WASHINGTON, DC — Metro workers reportedly are threatening to hold a "sick-out" this weekend when mass numbers of workers alert WMATA that they intend to be sick, a move which appears to be part of an ugly contract dispute between the two sides, although the local union denies it.

The current contract does not permit union members to strike, but a large quantity of workers are threatening to call in sick this weekend according to numerous reports, prompting WMATA to tell supervisors to be ready for 12-hour shifts starting on Friday and running through the weekend.

ATU Local 689 swiftly denied that reports of a sick-out were tied to contract negotiations.

"If you have received any information from management regarding employees calling in sick on Friday, it is not about contract negotiations or a right to strike," union spokesman David Stephen said in a statement. "WMATA's policy requires that employees give a 72-hour advance notice in anticipation of being sick. If any Local 689 member has expressed to their superior that they may be sick on Friday they adhering to WMATA's own policy."

Asked to clarify whether union workers were protesting WMATA's sick policy, Stephen said that "WMATA management has characterized this as a “sick out” or implied protest, not this union."

"Any employee who has expressed that they may be sick on Friday is following WMATA policy," he added.

Stephen said that all complaints about sick policy would be handled through the negotiated grievance policy between management and employees.

"If a member takes issue with this or any other WMATA policy, Local 689 will respect our negotiated practice of grieving it," he said.

Union President Jackie Jeter and ATU International representative Wayne Anthony Garland will hold a press conference in response to the rumored "sick-out" at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at the ATU Local 689 Union Hall in Forestville, Md.

Image via WMATA