Metro IAF Affiliates Push for $1 Billion in Dedicated Funding Annually to Keep WMATA Moving

PHOTO CREDIT: PHOTOS BY GEORGE DUNCAN

Together with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689, Metro IAF affiliates continue to fight to save the DC region’s metro rail system. On April 27^th, 400-500 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 689 descended on the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) Board meeting to protest Metro service cuts, privatization schemes, wage/benefit cuts that threaten rider safety and workers' jobs. Members packed the WMATA board meeting and dropped 4,000+ petitions right in front of WMATA General Manager and then chanted "Who moves this city? WE MOVE THIS CITY!!!" and joined a picket outside - then formed a human chain all the way around the headquarters which spans a whole city block.

On Sunday, May 7^th, leaders from five Metro IAF affiliates -- AIM, BUILD, PATH, WIN and VOICE – packed a downtown Washington, DC church to demand $1 billion a year in dedicated funding for Metro. Metro IAF proposed a mix of sales, gas and property taxes to improve the transit system, stop bus cuts, defend the jobs of 10,000 predominantly African American middle class workers and to push for affordable housing on WMATA land.