The District’s public bus system remained paralyzed for a second day Wednesday as D.C. Circulator drivers continue a strike over what they say are unfair wages and poor working conditions.
The union strike follows failed contract negotiations with RATP Dev USA, the company that operates the bus system for D.C.'s Department of Transportation. Union leaders and workers said they will continue the work stoppage until an agreement is reached.
RATP Dev, which has managed the Circulator under a contract with the city since 2018, said in a statement late Tuesday that it was “optimistic that an agreement can be reached.”“Together we have made progress on wages and other terms and will continue to work together starting [Wednesday] to end this work stoppage, put buses back on the road and put our employees back to work,” the statement said.The strike has disrupted travel for bus riders who depend on the six-route system to get around.
Some commuters were still confused Wednesday about buses not showing up, taking to social media to call on the system to better communicate its status.Wednesday.At-Large D.C. Council member and mayoral candidate Robert C. White Jr. joined bus drivers on the picket line Tuesday evening, calling for better conditions and salaries for transit workers who he said were essential to keeping the city running during the pandemic.
RATP Dev said it has offered a contract that increases 401 matches, adds an additional medical plan, makes Juneteenth a paid holiday and includes “better wages.” But ATU Local 689 says 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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