LISTEN TO MIKE GOLASH:
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“Our message to Metro on Thursday is that they better make a careful calculation,” said Mike Golash, a recently retired Metro bus operator and former president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689, which represents more than 7,000 Metro workers.
In binding arbitration in 2010, Metro workers won a retroactive 3 percent raise, but they have not received the pay increase because Metro continues to appeal the decision. “They’re trying to save $12 million in a wage increase for us,” said Golash. “The other side of the equation is, if we shut the system down for four or five days, even if we’re unsuccessful, it will cost the transit system, the regional businesses, the local government, $100-200 million in lost revenue and lost business. So Metro had better stop and think: Is it worth trying to save $12 million and at the same time put at risk hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue for the local governments, the local businesses and the transit agency itself?”
At a rally tomorrow (March 10) outside Metro headquarters at the Jackson Graham Building, 600 5th St, NW, from 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM, workers will be “demanding that they honor our contract, that they honor the arbitration award which gave us a pay raise and protected our pensions.” Golash said the money for the raises should not come from higher fares for riders but from “taxes on the businesses that prosper because of Metro’s existence and from the federal government, who we provide a tremendous service to by transporting about 30-40 percent of their workforce to and from work on a daily basis.”
“Basically, Metro is always portrayed in the press as a company or as a governmental agency which needs massive subsidies from the local governments. The reality is Metro is an engine of the economic development of this region. It creates value in the region. And all we – as workers who want a decent wage and benefits – are asking is for our share of that value that we’ve created.”
“Think about the Verizon Center. Every day almost, the Verizon Center is filled with people – for a sporting event, for a rock concert, for an exhibition, for a horse show or for some other event. The Verizon Center seats about 18,000 people. There’s no way that the Verizon Center could be filled if it was not for Metro. That creates a tremendous amount of value for Mr. Leonsis, the owner of the Verizon Center. Some of those extra profits that he makes because of Metro’s presence should be directed to supporting the transit system. The same way with Ted Lerner at the Nationals’ Stadium. The same way with White Flint Mall, with Pentagon City. All these businesses prosper and have additional profits because of the presence of Metro in close proximity to their operations. All we’re saying is they have to pay their fair share for the value we create for them.”