https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/as-strike-against-contractor-goes-on-metrobus-riders-lose-time-money-and-faith-in-transit/2019/11/09/fe35854a-00c4-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

The strike affects about 6 percent of Metrobus’s 325 routes, but it threatens to spread across Northern Virginia and strand about 30,000 additional riders who use the Fairfax Connector. Like Metro, Fairfax County has outsourced the operation of its bus service to Transdev, which recently started contract talks with the Amalgamated Transit Union — which also represents the striking garage workers. Those workers overwhelmingly voted Saturday to authorize a strike that they could call at any time, union representatives said.


So additional effects if a system-wide Fairfax Connector strike

- Traffic will increase 10 to 20 percent. Do we really need more traffic?

- Uber and Lyft fares will increase at places and at times from increased demand due to lack of commuter and other buses.

Northern Virginia transit workers vote to strike
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/11/tran-n11.html

By Nick Barrickman
11 November 2019

On Saturday, over 600 drivers and other staff working for Virginia’s largest transit service, the Fairfax Connector, voted to strike as early as Monday if the Amalgamated Transit Union local 1764 doesn’t reach an agreement with the bus service’s contractor, Transdev, which took over the bus line’s operation last July.

Though the total percentage of strike ratification votes have not yet been reported, a statement by the local ATU declared, “A job action, including a strike, is likely next week if an agreement is not reached.” The Washington Post reported that Connector workers “overwhelmingly voted Saturday to authorize a strike that they could call at any time.”

The threatened job action occurs as over 130 bus drivers, mechanics and utility staff remain on strike after more than two weeks at the nearby Cinder Bed Road Metrobus facility in Northern Virginia. The facility was acquired from the Washington Metropolitan Area Metro Authority (WMATA) by the French conglomerate Transdev, which operates as a low-cost private contractor for WMATA.

The Amalgamated Transit Union local 689, which covers over 13,000 workers in the Washington D.C. metro area, have been holding discussions over a collective bargaining agreement with Transdev since February and called a strike late last month after talks broke down.

Workers at the Metrobus contractor want wage parity with their public sector counterparts who make nearly $12 more although they drive the same vehicles. Transdev workers also oppose unsafe driving conditions, including the contractor’s use of defective or damaged buses. In August, a driver and passengers were sickened after a bus from the facility began emitting a chemical odor.

While the Metrobus-Transdev strike has affected roughly 8,500 commuters in Northern Virginia, a strike at the Connector would hit over 30,000, raising the specter of a regional halt in transit services in the US capital and one of the busiest transit centers in the country.

The struggle of transit workers occurs as Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) workers in New York City—the country’s largest transit system—have been working without a contract for over five months. The Transport Workers Union is blocking any strike against the draconian demands of the MTA and Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, which want to outsource to private contractors, expand part-time temporary work and cut health care in order to funnel even more money to the wealthy bond holders who control the transit system’s huge debt.

In India, over 48,000 transit workers at the Telengana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) have defied a back-to-work order from the state government last week. More broadly the struggle by D.C. area transit workers occurs amid a resurgence of the class struggle internationally as workers and youth seek to fight back against austerity and attacks on living standards which have intensified since the 2008 global financial crash.

The ATU has worked to keep the struggling workers in the various sectors separate from one another. The strike of privatized Metrobus workers comes a little over a year after the ATU ignored a 94 percent strike vote by over 8,000 Metro workers, keeping them on the job while WMATA violated contractual obligations by privatizing Metro services and carrying out the sale of the $89 million Cinder Bed Road facility to Transdev.

Late last month, the ATU and Fairfax Connector were forced to back down from their effort to force Connector drivers to scab on lines previously served by striking Metrobus-Transdev operators after workers discovered the plan.

On October 30, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation announced “[t]he limited temporary rush-hour service on Fairfax Connector … will no longer operate starting tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019,” before adding that three “supplemental” trips on the main southbound route would continue during rush hour.

Speaking at a rally last week, ATU Local 689 president Raymond Jackson, Jr. sought to beat back the determination of workers to fight, saying, “You can talk about striking all day but when it’s time for you to cross that line … you literally just fired yourself.” If workers struck, he warned, “All income stops, and I know that some of these workers are head of family and [they’re] single parents.”

Transit workers must take their struggle out of the hands of the ATU by building independent rank-and-file strike committees to mobilize workers and young people throughout the Washington D.C. region, including the public metro workers at WMATA. Like the New York City transit workers and Chicago teachers, Metro D.C. transit workers are facing a direct struggle against the Democratic Party, which claims there is no money for public services while it hands over billions in tax cuts and debt payments to giant corporations and Wall Street investors.

https://www.dclabor.org/home/transdev-workers-at-fairfax-connector-overwhelmingly-authorize-strike

11/11/2019

Fairfax Connector bus drivers, another privatized transportation system in the region that's managed by the French multinational corporation Transdev, have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if necessary. The vote by more than 600 members of ATU Local 1764 comes as ATU Local 689 Transdev workers have been on strike since October 24. Local 1764 is currently in contract negotiations with Transdev and workers are frustrated over poor treatment and unfair labor practices. Their current contract expires on November 30. “This strike vote sends a loud and clear message to Transdev that these workers demand to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,” says ATU International President John Costa. “A strike at the Connector would impact 91 routes and would paralyze the entire region. Once again Transdev has demonstrated their blatant disregard for their riders, their workers, and the community at large.” A rally has been scheduled for this Saturday, November 16 at 11a at Old Town Square in Fairfax, VA to link the struggles between Cinder Bed Road and the Fairfax Connector.

Regular time pay with Metro and more .

98% black = reverse discrimination F them let them strike and go without pay and not get it back

Fairfax Connector bus drivers make about 15-20 dollars an hour and that's what Metro should be paying to those born wi9th a steering wheel in their hands

If the workers do not like the pay, benefits, or working conditions of a job, find work elsewhere. If you are a worker with a good attitude and work hard, plenty of better jobs for you in this economy.

If Uber and Lyft fares surge much because of a strike, drivers not get tips unless provide exceptional service. Over the years, did meet a couple of Uber/Lyft drivers who also drove Fairfax Connector buses.

I was caught up in the Loudoun County Commuter Transit wildcat strike in August, 2015 also ran by Trandev. Though only a few thousand of us commuters were affected by that, Loudoun County had the service fully restored within two days with Transdev replacement drivers many from Chicago, though it took a few days with supervisors for the drivers to learn the routes. Of course, the WMATA and Fairfax Connector issues affect many many more riders, so getting scab drivers for a much larger problem is more difficult.

Though now live on the Fairfax side of the border with Loudoun, with the increased traffic with any strike, this will be great encouragement to shop Loudoun. Oh well, Fairfax County losing out on sales tax revenue.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/strike-against-metrobus-contractor-could-spread-to-fairfax-connector/2019/11/12/44983f5c-04b0-11ea-8292-c46ee8cb3dce_story.html

'Transdev and ATU Local 1764, which represents 600 employees of the Fairfax Connector, have been negotiating for more than a week, but a 124-to-2 strike-authorization vote by union members Saturday signifies the distance between the two sides. Union officials have said they could call for a work stoppage at any time, but they indicated a logical deadline is Nov. 30, when their contract expires.'

Unions have become a cancer on society.

Nobody will notice the difference.

Heard the Union president on WTOP....
Really ghetto.
Sad that niggers won’t learn how to communicate w/o “ax” instead of “ask,”

Etc.