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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Move MN pitches 10-year plan to fund needed transportation improvements

January 8, 2015 by

MoveMNUnions joined businesses, non-profits and local governments today in unveiling a 10-year plan to finance improvements to the state’s highways, bridges and transit systems.

Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders have said transportation will be a top priority during the 2015 session. Move MN, a broad-based, transportation-focused coalition of more than 200 groups, jumped right into the fray, pitching its proposal at a Capitol press conference on the session’s third day.

Move MN’s “10-Year Transportation Commitment Proposal” would generate an estimated $856 million annually with “modest increases” in fees and taxes that currently fund the state’s transportation system.

The average Minnesota driver, according to Move MN, would pay about $1.60 more per week as a result of the increases, with Twin Cities residents paying an extra $1.30 per week as a result of a Metro-county sales tax hike, dedicated mostly to expanding public transit. Businesses would pay roughly $900 more per semi-truck annually under the plan.

To justify the cost, transportation advocates pointed to Minnesota Department of Transportation statistics showing more than 65 percent of the state’s roads and 40 percent of its bridges will be more than 50 years old by 2025. Over the same time frame, freight semi-truck traffic is projected to increase by 30 percent, and the state will have 430,000 additional residents.

State officials’ own estimates indicate Minnesota faces a transportation-funding gap of well over $1.5 billion annually.

“Everyone agrees that an efficient, reliable transportation system is essential to Minnesota’s economic competitiveness,” Move MN co-chair Margaret Donahoe said in a press release. “But by 2025, Minnesota’s entire transportation system will be on life support as congestion, reliability and safety concerns put our state’s long-term economic health at risk.”

Details of the proposal are available in Move MN’s full press release.

Unions and labor federations supporting the Move MN coalition include the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 5, the SEIU Minnesota State Council, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 and others.

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Transit workers enlist riders in fight for better public transportation

May 20, 2014 by
Metro Transit GM Brian Lamb speaks during the "Transit Tuesday" rally, which took place next to the Government Plaza light-rail stop.

Metro Transit GM Brian Lamb speaks during the “Transit Tuesday” rally, staged next to the Government Plaza light-rail stop.

It’s Transit Action Month nationwide, and Metro Transit workers and riders took action today downtown Minneapolis, calling for “more, better and safer public transit” during a lunchtime rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center.

Coordinated by Local 1005 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the “Transit Tuesday” event drummed up support for a bipartisan bill making its way through Congress that would reauthorize federal funding for the nation’s highways and mass transit systems.

Brian Lamb, general manager of Metro Transit, called the transportation bill a key source of funding as his organization scrambles to meet the transit needs of a region expected to see its population grow by 850,000 in the next 25 years.

web.ATUrally-signs“We need to you to contact your representatives and let them know how important this is,” Lamb urged people at the rally. “Help them to know how strong the support for this is back home.”

Transit Action Month events nationwide are part of the ATU’s effort to enlist riders and other transit advocates in the political struggle for increased transit investment.

“We want our riders to know we stand with them in the fight for more, better and safer public transit,” Local 1005 Vice President Dorothy Maki said. “Together we can ensure that our voices are heard and elected officials understand that we want them to stand up for transit.”

[Tell your representatives in Congress you support more funding for public transit. Click here to find the phone number for your representatives in the House and Senate.]

The partnership between transit operators and riders is critical at the state level, as well as in Congress. Transit advocates’ efforts to secure more stable funding from the State of Minnesota, including a three-fourth cent sales tax dedicated to transit, came up short in both the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions.

Reliable, efficient transit service is key to ensuring economic development benefits all communities, said Robert Lilligren, who chairs the Native American Community Development Institute. Living in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, Lilligren said the first question many of his neighbors ask when they see an employment opportunity is whether it’s accessible by bus.

“If the answer is no, then we are not only robbing that individual of a job or training opportunity, but we are robbing that business of a potential employee,” Lilligren said.

Many speakers at the “Transit Tuesday” rally urged riders and operators to make transit funding an issue during the 2014 election season, which will determine the makeup of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Last year Metro Transit provided 81 million rides – each one “an opportunity for connecting drivers and riders to advocate for better transit,” said Jennifer Munt, a member of the Met Council, which operates Metro Transit.

“If we don’t make transit a campaign issue in 2014, it won’t be on the agenda come 2015,” added Margaret Donahoe, director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance.

There were some victories for public transit at the Capitol in 2014, Rep. Frank Hornstein said. The DFLer from Minneapolis pointed to a $500,000 investment in transit shelters and creation of a rapid-transit line along Snelling Avenue in St. Paul.

“With your organizing, we’re going to do even better in 2015,” Hornstein said.

“Bus drivers every day connect people to work, to school, to their dreams. They connect people to a better life. There is dignity in that work," Met Council Member Jennifer Munt said. Munt also works as Communications Director for AFSCME Council 5.

“Bus drivers every day connect people to work, to school, to their dreams. They connect people to a better life. There is dignity in that work,” Met Council Member Jennifer Munt said. Munt also works as Communications Director for AFSCME Council 5.

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