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12/23/2019
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board last week approved a four-year contract with its largest labor union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents about 8,000 WMATA employees.
The agreement includes a 2.4 percent annual average wage increase and, for the first time in WMATA history, incentivizes ridership growth with an additional 1 percent wage increase in years when the agency’s ridership improves 2 percent or more over the previous year, WMATA officials said in a press release.
Under previous labor contracts, station managers and train operators could only be hired from the authority’s existing pool of bus operators. Under the new contract, WMATA could hire employees directly from the market for those roles.
“This agreement has pluses and minuses for both labor and management, but overall it treats our employees fairly, continues their good wages and benefits, and signals that they will be rewarded as [our] service improves,” said WMATA Chairman Paul Smedberg.
Overall, the agreement keeps WMATA within a legally mandated annual subsidy growth rate of 3 percent, at a cost of $150 million over the next four years, WMATA officials said.
A WMATA spokesperson said both parties have approved the contract.