Hundreds of commuters were left stranded at bus stops Tuesday after D.C. Circulator drivers walked off the job to protest what they say are unfair wages and poor working conditions.
The union strike Tuesday followed weeks of failed contract negotiations with RATP Dev USA, the company that operates the six-route system for D.C.'s Department of Transportation. The strike is expected to continue Wednesday, union leaders and workers said, adding that it will persist until an agreement is reached. Negotiations are expected to resume Wednesday.
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The work stoppage disrupted travel for workers, visitors and residents, leaving passengers — many unaware about the strike — without a ride at bus stops across the city. Only two of the red buses were on the road Tuesday, while dozens were parked at the system’s three garages.
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RATP Dev and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents more than 150 Circulator drivers, have been negotiating a contract since March and had approved a 30-day contract extension that expired Saturday. Labor leaders say the company hasn’t responded to worker demands for better working conditions and salaries.
Driver Lamont Jackson arrived at the 17th Street NE bus garage Tuesday before his 6 a.m. shift. Instead of taking a bus to his Congress Heights-Union Station route, he carried signs that read “on strike.” He joined dozens of colleagues while picketing outside the RAPT Dev offices, chanting, “We move this city.”
Jackson, 43, has been driving the bus for nine years and said he is fighting for pay parity. Bus drivers last year started at $18.54 an hour at D.C. Circulator, while Metrobus drivers made about $7 more per hour after graduating from their training program.
“You got operators in different bus uniforms doing the same job we do, driving the same roads, but they get more benefits, more everything,” Jackson said. “We got one common goal: to pick up the passengers and make sure we do it safely. All we want is parity.”
RATP Dev said in a Friday statement that a strike or work stoppage “could result in a loss of transit services.” After receiving notice from the union Monday about the plan to strike, the company called the action “disappointing,” saying it intends to “continue bargaining in good faith” when negotiations resume.
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Drivers gathered at the bus garage holding signs that read “Together we fight! Together we win!” and “We move the whole region!” while chanting in support of fair wages.
From Friday: D.C. Circulator strike possible next week amid contract negotiations
Across the city, riders were left waiting at bus stops. Some tweeted at D.C. Circulator to say its website wasn’t indicating the next bus arrival time.
“Where are the buses?” a rider tweeted just before 8 a.m.
“Sorry for the inconvenience,” D.C. Circulator responded. “Our DC Circulator service is temporarily disrupted beginning May 3, 2022 due bus operator strike.”
By midday, Lucia Bonilla had sat for 20 minutes at the bus shelter on Mount Pleasant and Irving streets NW, with two bags full of groceries, waiting for the bus before learning the Circulator was not running.
“I can’t believe this,” she said in Spanish before walking to catch a Metrobus that would take her closer to home in the 14th Street corridor. “How am I supposed to get home now?”
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A few steps away, Juan Uma？a also waited for a bus that never showed. On his day off, he had come to a doctor’s appointment in Mount Pleasant and was planning to take the Woodley Park-Adams Morgan-McPherson Square bus to 14th and P streets NW, where he connects with the G2 Metrobus to get to his home near Howard University.
With no car, he said, he relies on the bus to get around and uses the Circulator because it’s cheaper than Metro. But on Tuesday, he was left with no choice but to walk toward the Columbia Heights Metro station.
“This is public transportation. It affects everybody,” he said. “I hope they resolve the dispute and get the buses back on the road.”
DDOT, which funds the Circulator system, offered passengers alternatives to the routes and urged them to “plan ahead.” Several Metrobus and Metrorail lines provide service along Circulator routes. The city also partnered with Lyft to offer free Capital Bikeshare rides.
DDOT Highlights Mobility Options
See below:
1. Circulator Updates: https://t.co/LwkdRPNnA7
2. Metro Rail: https://t.co/lk9k5oBFFz
3. BikeShare: Use the code '20DCRIDES'
4. DC Neighborhood Connect: https://t.co/Zyzq94Hgm1 pic.twitter.com/ukHWuHGoaq
— DDOT DC (@DDOTDC) May 3, 2022
RATP Dev said it has offered a contract that increases 401(k) matches, adds an additional medical plan, makes Juneteenth a paid holiday and includes “better wages.” But ATU Local 689 said in a statement that the company’s offer “failed to adequately address years of underpayment and inflation” and “threatened to substitute our members with subcontractors, eliminated workers’ federal rights under the Family & Medical Leave Act, and proposed undermining the concept of progressive discipline.”
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Brian Wivell, a spokesman for ATU Local 689, said workers are asking for a 401(k) employer contribution, similar to what D.C. government workers receive, he said, without the requirement that employees match it.
“We’re saying these are people that are doing the work of the D.C. government. Why shouldn’t they get the exact same thing?” he said. Wivell also said the company’s wage increase proposal didn’t consider rising inflation.
The union is asking the city to intervene. Six years ago, the D.C. Council boosted the budget for the Circulator contract to increase wages after workers ran a campaign for wage parity.
Requests for comment from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), DDOT and some D.C. Council leaders were not answered Tuesday.
DDOT on Friday warned that a potential strike would “severely limit and/or interrupt” bus operations. Circulator routes — which carried 5 million passengers annually before the pandemic — connect communities across the city to downtown and other destinations, such as Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Eastern Market and the Wharf.
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Circulator drivers and the union have for years lobbied the city to bring the Circulator system in-house and eliminate the contractor system, which they say has resulted in fewer benefits and lower wages. Circulator drivers have historically been among the lowest-paid public transit operators in the Washington region.
Last week, ATU Local 689 said the company had “repeatedly insulted our members with unserious lowball offers,” including increasing top pay by 6 percent over three years.
“This company will only realize the true value of its workforce when they don’t show up to work,” said Raymond Jackson, president of ATU Local 689. “RATP Dev can’t drive these buses.”