Union Slams Metro Plan, Accuses WMATA of 'Bad Faith'

WASHINGTON, DC — The union that represents Metro workers has issued a statement ripping Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld's proposal for WMATA, which proposes big changes and seeks major concessions from labor unions.

Wiedefeld said $15.5 billion would be needed over the next 10 years to make Metro safe and reliable, an increase of 30 percent over current budgets. He is also proposing to cut pension benefits, amend federal law on arbitration in contract disputes, and allow the agency to outsource work so that Metro employees would have to compete with contractors.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 released a statement Thursday slamming the proposal as "bad for riders, bad for workers and bad for the region."

"Instead of offering real proposals to improve the system and win riders back, Wiedefeld has, once again, pitted riders against workers in an attempt to balance the agency’s budget on the back of WMATA’s hardworking employees," the statement reads. "His solution is to outsource services more and more of the system, which will make the system less safe, less reliable, more costly and demoralize the workforce in a race to the bottom."

ATU Local 689 said they've submitted proposals to fix WMATA that included ways to secure dedicated funding to "bring back riders and improve safety," but Wiedefeld had not reached out to them about the plan.

"Instead of opening a dialogue with WMATA’s workforce on how to improve service and fix the system, the general manager has chosen to go around our negotiated contract and bargain in bad faith through the media," the statement adds.

Wiedefeld doesn't appear willing to budge on the issue, however.

"I don’t have a backup plan to solve this, because I don’t know where else I can go," Wiedefeld was quoted as saying in the Washington Post. "[Metro] must change its business model, as operating expenses are growing at nearly twice the rate of revenues."

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) praised Wiedefeld's plan in a statement.

“Paul Wiedefeld has started to turn the troubled ship that is Metro, and his logical proposal for a long-term funding plan is worthy of careful consideration,” Kaine said in a statement. He said he was “open to any solutions that meet the main criteria of ensuring a reliable funding source and making positive changes to safety and governance.”

Meanwhile, Metro claims that things are getting better with a significant improvement in reliability. However, ridership continues to fall due to continuing problems throughout the system and the ongoing SafeTrack work that includes single-tracking or entire line segment shutdowns, resulting in falling revenues unable to keep up with drastically rising costs.

Image via WMATA