Fairfax County, Virginia, February 26 - Today striking Fairfax County transit workers from Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU Local 689) rallied to demand a better contract from Transdev, a predatory private contractor. Transdev wins transportation contracts from Washington, D.C. area county governments by low-ball bidding at the expense of its workers. But Fairfax Connector workers, mostly Black and immigrant, have solidly shut down Transdev (647 out of 650 workers have hit the bricks). They have been without a contract since November, and are fed up with Transdev’s slow-walking of negotiations and their pitiful contributions to their 401(k) retirement fund. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members, including members from Local 689, provided regional solidarity at the rally while sharing revolutionary communist analysis of the need to overthrow capitalism. The bosses have tried to weaken the workers by splitting up the regional workforce into smaller companies, but workers are fighting more intensely than ever. 

Transit workers rail against bosses’ attacks
Recent transit strikes in Loudoun County, at Metro Access, and DC Circulator, coupled with threats of strikes at Driving Alexandria Safely Home (DASH) transit in Alexandria, VA have put the bosses on notice that ATU Local 689 workers will not back down. They are fighting for parity with the wages and benefits of the 9,000 workers for the much larger Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). And now, with the expiration of the contract with WMATA set for June 30, the bosses better beware! 

WMATA faces a $750 million operating deficit and is poised to take this out of the hides of its workers by attacking pensions, health care, other benefits, and wages while also reducing transit service to the rest of the working class. Workers are becoming strike-ready across the region. Workers are testifying at WMATA budget hearings opposing the bosses’ plans and demanding that the big developers and sports arenas who benefit from the mass transit system should pay for it, not workers.

We cannot be fooled by liberal Democratic Party politicians this time around. They promise their support to union leaders and then sell us out. We must rely on ourselves and other workers to fight back and at the same time build revolutionary leadership in our union and around the world to topple this exploitative capitalist system.