New Transit Local in the Fast Lane
Monday, April 30, 2007
Living proof of the power of organizing, Amalgamated
Transit Union (ATU) Local 1764 has nearly tripled membership in the last seven
months. The local, whose 682 members work for area transportation companies, is
a brand-new affiliate of the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, and was
chartered just over a year ago in March 2006. Local 1764 was formed when ATU
Local 1493 – a huge local spanning much of the Eastern Seaboard – was
reorganized into more locally-based locals a few years back. Local 1764’s
members drive, repair and maintain buses, mini-buses, vans, motor coaches and
sedans for MV Transit, Carolina Trailways, Goldline, James River and the
Downtown Circulator. President Wayne Baker, 54 and a sharp
dresser with an impeccably-trimmed mustache and a ready smile who’s been
driving for 32 years, now steers the rapidly-growing transit local, which has
gone from just 136 members last September to nearly 700 today. Baker was the
main driver behind the organizing campaign at MV Transit, bringing in nearly 500
members who work in the metro Washington region at facilities in Capitol
Heights, Beltsville and Baltimore. But Baker’s still not satisfied. “We have
the potential for at least another 700 members at several other bus
companies,” he tells UNION CITY. Issues facing the local include routine wage
and hour problems and recently the local has had to contend with a move by MV to
summarily dismiss any driver with a felony record, even though many of the
targeted drivers have exemplary driving records and have long since cleared
their records. Baker started driving back in 1973 for Metro predecessor DC
Transit, has worked for a number of transit companies over the years, still gets
behind the wheel of a tour bus from time to time and -- like Firefighters 36
President Dan
Dugan – loves to ride his 100% union-made Harley Davidson motorcycle
in his spare time.
-Story/photo by Chris Garlock