Circulator Contract Passes with Key Commitments to Workers!
The DC Council passed a $140M, 5-year contract with RAPT Dev for maintenance and operation of the DC Circulator buses. Because of your work in alliance with ATU 1764, a multinational corporation was forced to think about a local workforce’s wages and benefits, DC Council and DDOT had to face the destructive effects of privatization on DC workers and do something about it. The contract and a written letter to the council include assurances that current workers keep their jobs, union representation, and current collective bargaining agreement (including the raises won in 2016). Also, the contractor is required to meet Service Contract Act wages and benefits which could mean workers get raises to be in compliance with this federal law. Finally, before the vote, multiple councilmembers including Cheh and Nadeau clearly re-affirmed their desire see the Circulator ultimately brought in-house and articulated that the contract could be exited at any time.
Thank you to all of you who attended actions and met with a councilperson over the past year on this subject to stand up for public sector workers. This victory stands in contrast to the Supreme Court’s Janus decision that weakens union power, recent news about the Trump administration’s plan to privatize public infrastructure, and the Koch brothers’ attack on public transit.
The fight is not over. The implementation of this agreement will require consistent oversight by DC Council, the Circulator workers’ collective bargaining agreement expires next year creating an opportunity to push for benefits matching that of a DC government employee, and we need to hold DDOT and our city to bringing the Circulator in-house.
Check out photos and testimony from the June 18th circulator contract hearing.
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Learn more about the Transit Campaign!
For more information check out our Transit Privatization Fact Sheet
