METRO bus drivers and other transit workers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to allow their union to call a strike, following years of failed contract negotiations.
“It’s unprecedented,” Transport Workers Union Local 1 President Wayne Cole said of the 269-1 vote to authorize a strike, if a contract can’t be agreed upon. “I feel leverage and I feel solidarity with my people. I’m just elated.”
The union and METRO will return to the bargaining table at 11 a.m. Wednesday, the first time the parties will have met since METRO board members voted 11-1 to accept a fact-finder’s report and union members voted 294-2 to reject it.
Cole said the union would not give notice to METRO of a planned strike before that conversation, but what happens next will depend on METRO leadership’s posture.
“We may have some movement and then have a second day” of bargaining, he said.
Dawn Distler, the CEO of METRO, said in a board meeting Tuesday morning that labor relations continue to be guided by the fact-finder’s report, which recommends a lump-sum $3,500 payment and a 4 percent raise for employees but not retroactive raises for the two years they worked without a contract.
She said METRO remains committed to “good-faith bargaining and a timely resolution consistent with the fact-finder’s recommendations.”
Stay up to date: Read our recent coverage on the Akron METRO labor dispute.
In a statement following the vote Tuesday, Distler said she was “hopeful that continued discussions will result in an agreement without any disruption to the essential transportation services our community depends on.”
“Regardless of the challenges before us, we will continue to approach these negotiations professionally, respectfully, and with the best interests of our employees, our riders, and Summit County at the forefront of every decision,” she said.
Strike authorization does not mean a strike is imminent
The strike authorization vote does not mean bus operators, vehicle maintenance workers and clerical workers will strike. But it does give them the ability to provide 10 days’ notice to METRO that they plan to do so. No other vote is needed to proceed with a strike.
In its statement, METRO said regular service continues to operate. But METRO encouraged riders to begin considering transportation alternatives in case a strike does occur and they become necessary.
The union’s step, the statement said, gives METRO the ability to communicate with riders and the community about any disruptions that may occur.
Stephanie Selvey, who cleans hotels in Fairlawn, said she rides the bus to work six days a week. She also rides to Green to see her kids.
A strike “would be terrible,” she said, but she’s seen the poor treatment drivers receive from some passengers and thinks they deserve to be rewarded.
“From what we see every day that they deal with, they should,” she said.
Drivers hope METRO will take strike authorization seriously
Michele LaVette, a driver of 14 years who voted in favor of striking, said she came in during her vacation to cast her ballot because she felt that, under Distler’s leadership, METRO had gone from being a good career to being a job.
She was particularly concerned about potential changes to the cost of her healthcare. The fact-finder’s report suggested an increase in union members’ share of healthcare costs that they say would eat up most of the proposed raise.
If drivers strike, she said, they won’t get paid and won’t have healthcare for that period of time. But she said it would be worth it in the long run.
“METRO thinks we’re not unified,” LaVette said. “They think we’re joking. This is about them taking it serious.”
Paul Kelly, a bus operator who also voted to authorize a strike, said he didn’t want to go through with one. But he wants METRO leadership to take the union’s demands seriously.
With healthcare costs rising and no raise for the past two years of work, Kelly said, “we’re going backwards.”
“We’ve got to do something,” he said. “All we can do is walk out.”
Riders support drivers’ demands
Drivers have the support of riders, who said they believe METRO employees should be better paid.
David Wilkes, who rides the bus from his home in Highland Square to his job at Goodwill, said he’d have to find another form of transportation, but he thinks the drivers should get raises.
“It’s probably the only way they’re getting paid more, if they strike,” he said. “It makes it harder for me, but I think people should be treated fairly.”
If the drivers do go on strike, Ruth Austin said, she would occasionally be able to use a cab service to meet her needs. But she’s on a tight budget, so if she couldn’t take the bus, she would be stuck at home far more often than she is now.
Austin said she thinks the drivers should get a raise, and called them good people. On Tuesday, while she waited for the bus to go to Home Depot, she said she would pray for the bus drivers to be taken care of.
“That means we will have our transportation,” said Austin, who rides the bus five days a week to get groceries and go to doctor’s appointments.
METRO, union dispute bathroom break policy
At the Tuesday board meeting, Distler answered questions from board members about claims the union has made regarding access to bathrooms and the union’s desire to make Juneteenth a METRO holiday. She said some of the union’s talking points contained inaccurate information.
While union members have said there are no bathroom breaks available for drivers, Distler said drivers, over the course of their 8-hour shifts, have at least 90 minutes of downtime.
In most cases, close to an hour of that 90 minutes is at the Robert K. Pfaff Transit Center, where there are breakrooms and bathrooms, she said. Additionally, drivers have access to a list of businesses that allow drivers to stop to use the facilities.
And, Distler said, no driver has ever been disciplined for stopping to use the facilities — in fact, she said, when a driver tells passengers they need to stop for a restroom, the passengers often follow suit.
“We’re all people, all humans,” Distler said.
Cole disputed Distler’s assessment, saying that many routes don’t have that kind of down time and that some bathrooms that drivers could use in the past are no longer available, as offices emptied out during the coronavirus pandemic and some stayed locked because of concerns regarding drug use in public facilities.
While he agreed that no one had been disciplined, he called Distler’s assertions an “emphatic lie.”
Distler also pushed back against union complaints that Juneteenth is not recognized as a holiday. She said since it became a federal holiday in 2021, METRO and the union have not agreed to a new contract that would include the holiday. METRO offered it as a holiday in a package that the union rejected, she said. She did not say what else was in the package.
Cole said he did not recall if it had been in a contract proposal that was rejected.
METRO operates daily, including on holidays, and there are other federal holidays — like Veterans Day and Presidents Day — that also aren’t part of the contract, Distler said. She said if METRO were to make Juneteenth a holiday, it would not mean that drivers didn’t work — it would mean that those who did got paid more for working that day.
“We’re not against it, but we have to negotiate it,” she said.
Union workers say they’re tired of being disrespected
Distler said Tuesday that METRO’s goal “continues to be achieving a contract that recognizes our employees while ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the transit system for the community we serve.”
In a statement, Mayor Shammas Malik praised METRO workers for helping residents get to work, school, doctors and grocery stores. He said drivers deserve a fair contract, but that the service must remain financially stable.
“A strike would be devastating for Akron, and families across our community would suffer,” he said. “Both sides must make every effort to compromise and finalize a contract to avoid a strike as soon as possible.”
Cole said union workers voted in favor of striking because they are tired of being disrespected. He said he couldn’t be more proud of members who came in on their vacation, or between shifts, to cast ballots.
He’s still hopeful that an agreement can be reached but said workers want their dignity back. If conversations break down and the union decides to strike, Cole said, “it’ll be a painful one.”
He said the last time METRO drivers went on strike was in the 1980s, and the strike lasted for more than 30 days.
If the drivers go on strike, it will be hard for Michael Golden and his fiancee, Tiffany Rainer, to see their child, Golden said. The couple, who are homeless, must go to Summit County Children Services to do so — and Rainer is pregnant, so it’s a difficult walk.
Golden said they use the bus to get to appointments, housing and food pantries. Still, he said, he hopes the drivers get the money they’re asking for. “They deserve it,” he said.
“I told these guys that they need to get the pay raise,” he said. “It’s not right.”
Cole is counting on that attitude, and support, as the negotiation process continues.
“I think people in general are tired of management,” he said. “The common man, I think, is just tired of it.”
