April 2025 Bulletin

ATU Local 1576 April 2025 Bulletin

CT Blast from the Past: March 2018 Bulletin updating Community Transit members on negotiations:

“We offered CT a proposal on Customer Comments, which specifies that anonymous or unsubstantiated complaints, or those which do not involve misconduct, will not be included in the employee’s permanent record.”

Yup. Unsubstantiated complaints used to be a part of your file!

CT Barrier Doors Update: A Request for Proposal (RFP) process for coach operator barrier doors has recently come to a successful conclusion, pending final approval of the Board of Directors, scheduled for the board meeting May 1st. The RFP process invited proposals from leading manufacturers and innovators to design and supply state-of-the-art barrier doors and was characterized by its transparency and competitiveness. The evaluation criteria included a list of required and desired features that were supplied in collaboration with safety experts, coach operators and mechanics. The completion of the RFP process marks a milestone in the ongoing efforts to improve coach operator safety. We may still face challenges (supply chain issues and tariffs), but this is real, substantial progress. Dave Thompson, ATU1576 FinSec

CT Bus Shortage and Pre-Trip: Protect yourself!! As the bus shortage continues, we will continue to have coach operators handing over coaches that are running and have been pre-tripped by the previous driver. Protect yourself by taking a walk around the coach to check for any new damage not noted on the damage card. Check the interior for phones, wallets, or other personal belongings. No need to do a pump-down, but make sure the pre-trip book is signed off!                        

Contract Negotiations: After surveying our members regarding what was deemed most important in our upcoming contracts, it was no surprise that the top 2 priorities were wages, and benefits. At Community Transit, 170 respondents in 10 classifications participated in the survey. Armed with this information and surveys from Island Transit, ATU 1576 is currently negotiating 5 contracts at 4 properties, covering 19 classifications. The Executive Board has been meeting together with the Officers to comb through the current contract and pinpoint what we would like to see addressed in the new contract. Our next step is to meet with the various classifications to see what is most important to each group. Please stay tuned for more updates.

Please text  ATU1576

to 47400 for important updates!

TD Dart: Your Executive Board Officer, Sharon Parker has been working with your President, Dani Julien, Vice President Lela Perkins as well as with International Vice President Michael Cornelius to put together the proposed contract changes for Transdev Dart. We presented a proposal to the agency on 4/10 and are awaiting a counter.

Assaults and the Emergency Response Advocates: According to the Health & Safety Director for the ATU, driver assaults are up 232% in the last 10 years. This is not only a CT problem, or a King County Metro problem; this is everywhere. And it’s not just drivers; public facing  transit workers like Facilities Maintenance, Ride Store workers, Service Ambassadors, and Transit Security Officers are all on the front line. Until we get barrier doors, however, coach operators are taking the brunt of the abuse. In the past, when a driver was assaulted, they would come back to base, write their event report, maybe a First Report for L & I, then either go home, or to a walk-in clinic. Today, CT and ATU have worked together to make sure our members have an advocate to guide them through the process, and get the help they need. Your advocates are sitting in emergency rooms with our drivers, meeting them back at base to help them with reports, making sure they get home safely, and following up with them as needed. We are also following up with management to make sure our members are informed in a timely manner. You may not have heard about the Emergency Response Advocate (unless you’ve been assaulted) and that is intentional. We are driven to help when and where we can, but with the utmost respect for the person’s privacy. Please ask if you would like more information on this program.

Lance Norton Celebrated: At our Community Transit charter meeting on Sunday, April 27, Lance Norton’s long service to our local was celebrated. Lance started out in New York as a coach operator then served as vice president of the local before moving here and eventually becoming the President of Local 587 at King County Metro. When he retired in 2010, he became our Labor Representative on the Board of Directors, the very first at Community Transit and Island Transit. Even though the non-voting Labor Rep position became law in Washington state, our local had to arbitrate for his right to sit on the board. Though it was a rocky beginning, the Board came to value his experience, input, and wisdom. Lance served in this capacity for 15 years, sharing labor’s perspective on transit issues and being a voice for our rights. His wealth of knowledge and experience, and his propensity for vivid story telling will be missed. We wish him all the best in his well earned retirement.

ATU 1576 Swears in William Love: On April 27th at the Charter meeting for Community Transit members, President Julien swore in William Love to represent Community Transit on the Executive Board. William has been a coach operator for CT for 6 years, and has served our local as a Shop Steward. His will be a strong voice for our members! Welcome, William.

Community Transit Says Goodbye to One of Our Own:

On Friday, April 25th at 1:00pm the life of our brother, Curtis Wright, was celebrated. His manager, Michael Adams, told wonderful stories of their encounters. Retiree Karen Hill told the story of her investigation into an accident he had. His aunt told us that as a little boy of 7 he would tell anyone that would listen that he was going to drive a bus!

Curtis had an enormous impact on his passengers and his co-workers. His work-mom, Rita Pollardo, brought his work shirt and swift scarf, and draped them by the dais. He gave his all to his passengers and his co-workers. He will be greatly missed.