Workers turn out for a say in Metro Transit’s safety plan

February 10, 2023 by

Transit workers packed the Feb. 8 Met Council meeting.

Metro Transit bus and train operators packed Met Council chambers Feb. 8, demanding input into the agency’s plan to improve safety across the local transit system.

Council members were poised to approve that plan, finalized by Metro Transit in December, but they voted 7-5 to postpone any action for at least one week, giving management and union representatives time to chart a course for better collaboration moving forward.

“This huge turnout really proves an interest from workers to tell their side of the story,” Council Member Abdirahman Muse said.

The operators’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, was not involved in drafting the safety plan despite a new federal requirement – part of the bipartisan infrastructure law passed in 2021 – that transit systems create labor-management safety committees to sign off on their plans.

Union leaders and council members acknowledged the newly formed committee got off to a “rocky start” last year, and it put the process at risk of missing a Dec. 31 deadline with the Federal Transit Administration.

ATU representatives offered to approach the FTA jointly with Metro Transit and request an extension, Local 1005 member Ron Kammueller said, so that frontline workers could have a voice in the safety plan.

“They declined and went to the FTA behind our backs unilaterally,” Kammueller said before the council meeting. “They claim the FTA granted them approval to mark this plan as approved by the (labor-management) committee. We’re here to say the process needs to back up and keep labor and management on equal footing.”

Council Member Deb Barber, chair of the council’s transportation committee, said the agency needed a plan on the books by the deadline to avoid risking federal funding. But she also emphasized that the plan is a “living document” and, at minimum, must be updated annually with input from the labor-management committee.

“Our goal and hope is that this is a continually updated document done in collaboration between Metro Transit and ATU,” Barber said. “This isn’t meant to be the end of the story; this is the start.”

Getting buy-in from the union won’t be an issue moving forward, Local 1005 Recording Secretary Miriam Wynn said. Safety is a growing concern among transit workers, over 70 of whom showed up for the Wednesday-night meeting in downtown St. Paul.

“We have facility workers who are just in the line of duty, trying to clean the platforms, and they are being held at gunpoint, being held at knifepoint,” she said. “It’s really bad out there.”

The FTA issued a special directive to Metro Transit last October in response to increasing safety risks faced by transit workers. The directive noted that Metro Transit is one of nine agencies nationwide that accounted for 79% of all transit worker assaults reported to the National Transit Database between 2016 and 2021, “with no clear downward trend in assaults” over that period.

But the safety plan Metro Transit produced last year lacked the sweeping changes needed to stem those increasing risks to workers and riders, Wynn said.

That’s why union members need a seat at the table.

“It is our lives, we’re the frontline workers, and there are things that should be in this plan – like ways to mitigate assaults, there’s nothing in there that speaks to that,” Wynn said. “Not even to speak to the drug use on the trains and on the buses that are affecting our operators? Those are the things that we want to see in this plan.”

Met Council Member Raymond Zeran, former political director of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 292, said he hoped the urgency ATU members brought to the council meeting carries over to the labor-management committee’s efforts to settle on a safety plan “that everyone’s buying into.”

“Pack your lunch,” he told union members. “Get this done.”

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With talks stuck in low gear, Metro Transit workers seek public support

December 17, 2020 by

Members of ATU Local 1005 demonstrated outside as their bargaining team met with Metro Transit in October. The action succeeded in pushing the agency off its demand for a one-year contract with no wage increases. (ATU photo)

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 have authorized a strike, held informational picketing and, most recently, petitioned the governor – all in an effort to shift their contract talks with Metro Transit into higher gear.

The union of 2,350 transit operators and mechanics entered bargaining this summer looking to address health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those discussions have yet to take place, Local 1005 President Ryan Timlin said, despite the union’s pressure campaign.

“The actions we’ve done have had an effect,” Timlin said. “We’ve seen a little bit of movement, but not nearly enough, in our opinion. The Met Council and Metro Transit are still dragging their feet.”

It’s not unusual for contract talks at Metro Transit – or any public agency – to progress at a deliberate pace. But Local 1005 members say this round of talks warrants greater urgency.

Transit workers are seeking clear language ensuring access to personal protective equipment and hand sanitizer at Metro Transit facilities. They want language ensuring paid leave for workers who come into contact with the coronavirus on the job.

Union members want hazard pay, too.

In a letter to Gov. Tim Walz sent Dec. 7, Timlin called transit operators “Minnesota’s forgotten front-line workers,” even though many essential workers rely on public transit to get to and from their jobs.

Between boarding stops, Timlin said, the air inside Metro Transit buses is trapped and recirculated from the back of the bus to the front. Light-rail trains have slightly better airflow.

Sharing confined, modular spaces with the public has almost certainly put transit operators at high risk for contracting the coronavirus.

“We’ve had quite a few of our members get COVID,” Timlin said. “We haven’t had a death yet. We’ve been lucky. But I use the word ‘yet’ because I fear it’s going to happen down the road with how susceptible the workforce is.”

ATU members voted overwhelmingly in September to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike. At that time, Metro Transit was demanding a one-year contract with no wage increases or hazard pay, rather than the normal two- or three-year deal.

While the pandemic has reduced fare revenue, Metro Transit is partially funded by a tax on new car sales, which have increased during the pandemic. The Met Council, which oversees the agency, also has had access to pandemic-relief funds through the CARES Act.

Metro Transit management changed its tune Oct. 26 and agreed to discuss a longer-term contract, after transit workers and their supporters rallied outside the Bureau of Mediation Services offices in St. Paul, where representatives of the two sides were meeting.

Since then, the union has been ramping up public pressure on Metro Transit’s general manager, Wes Kooistra, as well as members of the Met Council. The union says it has delivered over 10,000 emails to Met Council members and 500 phone calls. (Click here to send an email supporting Metro Transit workers.)

But their concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

“We are not eager to strike, but we are preparing for that eventuality, in the name of safety and justice,” Timlin wrote in his letter seeking Walz’s help. “We need someone to intervene, to compel Metropolitan Council members to do their jobs with the same vigor we do our own.”

The governor’s office acknowledged the letter, Timlin said, and was working to set up a meeting.

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Union strong, Metro Mobility drivers fight to save their jobs

April 12, 2018 by

In a 2015 survey, Metro Mobility customers were asked to name their favorite thing about riding the transportation service for people with disabilities and health issues. The most common response: their drivers.

About 100 of those drivers are now fighting for their jobs, as the Met Council, which oversees Metro Mobility, considers moving one of its core services to a new, non-union contractor.

Drivers and clients will raise concerns about the proposed change when it comes before the council’s Transportation Committee April 23, according to Teamsters Local 120, the union that represents drivers.

“Every day our members are picking up the same people, and now they could potentially lose that continuity,” Local 120 Secretary-Treasurer Bill Wedebrand said. “We feel as though there should be some more discussion on this.”

The drivers, employees of First Transit, shuttle people to and from employment, training and rehabilitation centers and other programs. Known as “agency service,” it’s mandated by federal and state laws.

But increasing demand for Metro Mobility rides is straining the Met Council’s finances. Metro Transit hiked bus and light-rail fares last year, and the council still projects a shortfall of $86 million in its 2020-21 transportation budget.

Under pressure to cut costs, the Met Council appears poised to move forward with Maple Grove-based Transit Team’s $31.8 million, five-year proposal covering agency services after the current contract with First Transit expires Sept. 30.

Transit Team delivered a cheaper proposal than First Transit, but Wedebrand warned that disrupting the relationship between Metro Mobility drivers and the vulnerable adults they serve will come at a cost.

“Most of these drivers have being doing this job for many years, and they do it for the right reasons,” Wedebrand said. “They don’t make a lot of money, but they do it to help people who are vulnerable. And these vulnerable adults know them, trust them.”

Wedebrand said Local 120 intends to push hard for current drivers to keep their jobs – and their union contract – if the agency service contract moves to Transit Team. It’s a courtesy Metro Mobility drivers, who received a 95-percent satisfaction rating in the 2015 customer survey, have earned.

Show support for Metro Mobility agency drivers by turning out for the April 23 Transportation Committee meeting, which begins at 4 p.m. at 390 Robert St. N., St. Paul.

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Transit riders, drivers team up to fight proposed cuts, fare hikes

April 19, 2017 by

A rally in Leif Erickson Park urged investments – not cuts – in transit services statewide.

Transit riders and operators rallied at the Capitol light rail station in St. Paul yesterday, looking to derail House Republicans’ plan to cut funding for bus, rail and Metro Mobility services by $122 million over the next two years.

The Metropolitan Council, which operates Metro Transit and Metro Mobility, has warned the budget proposal would force both fare increases and a reduction in service by as much as 40 percent.

The prospect of paying more for less frequent bus and rail service didn’t sit well with more than 150 riders who joined the rally. One by one, they stepped up to the podium to describe the role transit plays in their lives – whether it’s getting to work or school, or simply getting around town.

“These drastic cuts would have a devastating impact on the elderly, low-income workers, communities of color, people with disabilities and all who are dependent upon transit to get around,” Jessica Treat, chair of the Transportation Forward campaign, said. “This is not what Minnesota needs.”

In addition to steep service cuts and fare hikes, the House proposal would mean layoffs for Metro Transit operators and maintenance staff, who are members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005.

ATU Local 1005 President Mark Lawson

Mark Lawson, president of the local, warned job losses would impact communities of color and immigrant communities at a time when the state is trying to address troubling income disparities between white workers and workers of color. Metro Transit and Local 1005 have partnered in recent years to recruit new workers from neighborhoods Metro Transit serves, Lawson said.

“The workforce is looking more and more like our riders, which is a good thing,” Lawson said. “And did I mention these are union jobs with good pay, good benefits?”

Operators and riders also pointed to a Met Council report showing the service targeted by lawmakers for especially steep cuts – light rail – operates at the lowest public subsidy, about $1.84 per passenger, compared with more than $7 per passenger for bus services from Shakopee and Prior Lake.

“Why are they trying to get rid of the workforce that provides the best value for the Minnesota taxpayers?” Lawson asked.

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Metro Transit workers vote to accept contract proposal

May 10, 2016 by

atu_newlogo-01In balloting held Sunday and Monday, Metro Transit workers accepted a proposed two-year contract with annual wage increases of 2.25 percent.

The contract, which covers about 2,400 members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, still must be approved by the Met Council before taking effect. The council is expected to consider the contract at its May 25 meeting.

“I don’t expect that to be anything more than a formality,” Local 1005 President Mark Lawson said.

Once finalized, the contract will provide Metro Transit operators and mechanics with raises retroactive to Aug. 1, 2015 – and another 2.25 percent bump in August 2016. Some workers will see larger increases as a result of changes in job classifications included in the contract.

Those terms represent an improvement on the “final offer” rejected by Local 1005 members in a near-unanimous vote in February. This time around, about 72 percent of voting members approved of the tentative agreement.

Other provisions of the pending contract include:

  • Expansion of night-shift differential – a 50-cent boost in hourly pay between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. – to all workers in the bargaining unit.
  • Agreement to revisit and potentially amend a 25-year-old list of tools mechanics are required to buy out of their own pockets.
  • Continued health care cost sharing at “reasonable” rates, according to Lawson.

“The vast majority of members feel this is a contract they can live with and move on with,” Lawson said. “Because it’s a two-year deal, we’re going to be starting to work on the next contract, getting our proposals ready, by the end of this year.

“So we get a breather, and then we get to start all over again.”

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Jennifer Munt: Let’s move Minnesota in 2015

July 10, 2014 by

munt-mugMinnesota has an urgent transportation problem that’s making it difficult for Minnesotans to get to their next destination, whether that’s work, school, play or family.

Transportation is about opportunity for all no matter who you are or where you live. Workers need safer roads and better public transit to get to work. Our seniors need a ride to live independently. Our families need better bike and pedestrian routes that connect them to their schools, jobs and recreation. Our farmers need sturdy bridges to get their products to market. Our businesses require highways to quickly move their goods.

Crumbling Infrastructure, Shrinking Workforce

There’s no way our economy can grow, prosper and compete on crumbling infrastructure that takes a beating from our winter climate. Here are some facts that scream urgency. Half of our roads and bridges are more than 40 years old and in poor condition with nearly 2.5 million commuters driving across a structurally-deficient bridge every day.

Meanwhile, the state transportation department has 2,000 fewer maintenance workers than it did a decade ago. With MnDOT’s shrinking workforce, it’s impossible to keep up with our aging infrastructure. Much of Minnesota’s infrastructure was built in a short span of years – in the 1960s and ‘70s – so our roads and bridges are all wearing out at the same time. It’s like a circulatory system that can no longer pump.

Transportation employs about 65,000 workers in Minnesota, including 2,700 AFSCME members who maintain and repair state highways and bridges. Our members see the underbellies of our bridges, the poor pavement on our roads, and potholes that could swallow a car.

Everyone Deserves a Ride

Workers can save up to $8,000 a year if they can walk, bike or ride transit to work – instead of driving alone. Unfortunately, only 10 percent of the jobs in the metro area are easy to get to by bus or train.

Our aging population and persons with disabilities need adequate bus service to live independently. Demand is also exploding for bike and pedestrian routes that provide healthy, affordable, environmentally-friendly choices for getting around.

2015 is the Year to Fund Transportation

Minnesota has only 60 percent of what it needs for roads, bridges and transit. Each year we delay Minnesota’s urgent transportation needs, the cost to taxpayers increases.

Move MN has proposed a funding package that is comprehensive to address roads, bridges, transit, and bike and pedestrian connections. It fairly balances the needs of Greater Minnesota and the metro, urban and suburban communities, and the east and west metro. It’s a long-term, sustainable solution with funding dedicated to transportation.

Our funding package is just the beginning of the discussion. To fund roads and bridges, the Move MN proposal includes a sales tax on leased vehicles and wholesale oil distributors. A three-quarter cent increase in the seven-county metro sales tax would expand current metro and suburban transit systems. A portion of that sales-tax revenue would add bike and pedestrian connections in the metro and flexible federal dollars would be allocated for bike and pedestrian connections in other parts of the state.

Gov. Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and House Speaker Paul Thissen have all said that 2015 will be the transportation session. Please urge your state legislators to fund transportation.

Our cherished quality of life and Minnesota’s economic vitality depend on safe roads and bridges, and easy access to public transit in communities where people can bike and walk.

To learn more, visit Move MN’s website.

– Jennifer Munt serves on the Metropolitan Council and is public affairs director for AFSCME Council 5.

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An engine for economic growth, Green Line opens to big crowds

June 20, 2014 by
City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line's Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line’s Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

Minnesotans celebrated the opening of Metro Transit’s Green Line with ribbon-cuttings, neighborhood-centric events and more than 107,000 free rides June 14-15. But there was more to celebrate than the long-anticipated arrival of a sleek, new transit option between the Twin Cities’ downtown areas.

Jobs – and plenty of them – were also reason to celebrate.

Construction of the $957 million light-rail line, with 9.8 miles of new track and 18 new stations, created more than 5,500 construction jobs, and payroll expenses for the project exceeded $252 million. Additionally, Metro Transit hired 200 operators and maintenance workers for the Green Line, according to the Metropolitan Council.

The project created work for members of Building Trades unions during an otherwise lean period for the construction industry, as investment capital dried up and development ground to a halt following the financial collapse of 2008.

“It was a blessing that it happened during a time when the construction industry saw unemployment at levels it hasn’t seen since the Great Depression,” Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said.

But job creation isn’t confined to the Green Line’s rear-view mirror.

Riders looking out the train’s windows are likely to see scaffolding, cranes and other heavy equipment, signs of the private development that has been popping up along the Central Corridor since the Green Line since got the green light five years ago.

The Met Council predicts employment along the line will grow by more than 90,000 jobs over the next 16 years. Already, more than 100 projects have been built, are under construction or are in the planning phase along the Green Line. Together, the developments account for more than $2.5 billion in job-creating private investments.

“The development we’ve seen so far only marks the beginning of new opportunities in the Central Corridor,” Met Council Chair Sue Haigh said. “For decades to come, the Green Line will be a catalyst for employment and economic growth along its 11-mile route.”

In that regard the Green Line is an example of the “ripple effect” that makes transit a particularly effective public investment. Every dollar a community invests in public transportation brings approximately $4 in economic returns, according to the American Public Transit Association.

The nonpartisan organization also found that, in a study conducted between 2006 and 2011, residential property values performed 42 percent better, on average, if they were located near public transportation.

The Green Line also provided training opportunities that helped introduce young workers to careers in the Building Trades.

The Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, for example, integrated a new, eight-hour course, “Introduction to Light Rail Construction,” into the curriculum at its Lino Lakes-based training center. Todd Pufahl, council president, said the $250,000 investment ensures the union and its contractors are ready to tackle transit investments coming down the pike.

“The Green Line will do great things for commuters and the communities it runs through,” said Pufahl. “We are also anxious and ready to get going on the Southwest Corridor project. Our skilled Construction Craft Laborers are skilled and ready to help improve quality of life and transportation choices for all of us.”

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state's transportation infrastructure.

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure.

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Woodbury forum to consider East Metro’s transportation challenges

March 3, 2014 by

NoGimmicksForum“Pains, Trains & Automobiles,” a forum and panel discussion in Woodbury March 18, will consider what can be done to improve Minnesota’s transportation system, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of Washington County and the East Metro.

The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Genesis Room at Woodbury Lutheran Church, located at 7380 Afton Road in Woodbury.

The forum will provide a variety of perspectives from local and regional government, business, and affordable housing advocates. Attendees will have an opportunity to share their concerns and consider activities that will assure legislative action. Panelists include:

  • Gary Kreisel – Washington County Commissioner
  • Harry Melander – Metropolitan Council, Board Member 12th District
  • Todd Streeter – Executive Director and Board President, Greater Stillwater Area Chamber of Commerce
  • Sue Watlov Phillips – Interim Executive Director, Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH)

Dane Smith, director of the think tank Growth and Justice, will moderate the panel discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

The forum is being co-sponsored by River Valley Action, League of Women Voters White Bear Lake Area, Transit for Livable Communities and Sierra Club North Star Chapter.

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Metro Transit workers say contract talks are running behind schedule

September 13, 2012 by

Members of ATU Local 1005 pack the gallery at last night’s Met Council meeting.

Fed up with Metro Transit’s casual approach to negotiating a new contract, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 shared their frustration yesterday with Metro Transit’s governing body, the Met Council.

Carrying homemade signs and wearing their Metro Transit uniforms, about 30 members of ATU Local 1005 packed the gallery during the Met Council’s meeting downtown St. Paul. Their message to council members was clear: Get Metro Transit to bargain in good faith.

The Twin Cities’ regional public transportation service, Metro Transit is a division of the Met Council, a 17-member board appointed by the governor. Metro Transit employs about 2,200 members of ATU Local 1005.

The previous contract between Local 1005 and Metro Transit expired July 31. Negotiations on a new agreement began in May, but the two sides have made little progress, particularly when it comes to major issues like wages, health care benefits and work rules.

Local 1005 President Michelle Sommers accused Metro Transit management of dragging its feet.

“We haven’t made any progress to speak of on a new contract,” she said. “They have not even given us health care numbers, let alone a wage package yet.”

ATU Local 1005 members agreed to a two-year wage freeze during negotiations on their last contract – a bone of contention after management jobs swelled.

Unfortunately, that’s business as usual for Metro Transit. Two years ago the agency dragged out its last round of negotiations with Local 1005, finally settling nine months after the previous contract had expired.

The two sides have a history of contentious labor relations. Local 1005 members staged a six-week strike in 2004, nine years after an 18-day strike at Metro Transit.

Union members agreed to a two-year wage freeze in their last contract, but have been angered by Metro Transit’s decision to hire more people for management positions since then.

Sommers said Metro Transit administrators foster a culture of disrespect among management for front-line workers – something union members hope to address in negotiations on a new contract.

“It’s about day-to-day equality and respect,” she said. “They are very, very disrespectful to employees here. Their approach is to manage by fear, and that’s a major focus of ours in getting a contract done.”

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