News
MBTA board gives $15m lift to Keolis
Commonwealth Magazine | By Bruce Mohl | July 11, 2016 THE MBTA’S OVERSIGHT BOARD on Monday approved a series of maintenance, repair, and scheduling changes for commuter rail service that are expected to improve on-time performance and boost the income of the cash-strapped private contractor, Keolis Commuter Services, by about $15 million a year. James…
Read MoreMBTA takes first major step toward privatization
Boston Globe | By Nicole Dungca | June 30, 2016 The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s warehouse operations could be run by a private company by October, as T officials take a major step toward outsourcing a part of the agency. MBTA officials on Thursday released a request for proposals from outside firms for the operations…
Read MorePress coverage of our proposal
Yesterday, Local 589’s chief negotiator and economist, Tom Roth, and President Jimmy O’Brien, presented an offer to the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board that would extend our contract for two years and save the MBTA $24 million. Below is some of the press coverage our proposal is receiving. MBTA union may agree to wage cuts for…
Read MoreOur Proposal to the MBTA
We’re writing today to tell you about our ongoing efforts to advocate on your behalf and protect transit jobs from privatization. A few months ago, the executive board agreed to look for ways to reach a deal with MBTA leadership to lengthen our contract and prevent the outsourcing of Boston Carmen’s Union work. Today,…
Read MoreCarmen’s Union Opposes Outsourcing of Warehouse Logistics Jobs
The MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board met again to explore more ways to privatize parts of the MBTA. Today’s meeting focused on warehouse logistics. President Jimmy O’Brien as well as several members of Local 589 questioned the savings privatization would bring as well as why it was being privatized at all since the problems…
Read MoreLocal 589 Testifies Against Efforts to Privatize Money Room
Yesterday, the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board met to discuss privatizing the money room. President Jimmy O’Brien as well as several members of Local 589 spoke passionately against the measure citing, among others, security, safety, accountability, and quality. Below are some of the articles written about the meeting as well as some excerpts from…
Read MoreMBTA workers urge board not to outsource their jobs
By State House News Service | June 6, 2016 About a half dozen people tasked with cash-handling duties within the MBTA urged the transit agency’s overseers on Monday not to outsource the agency’s money room operations. Looking at an overhaul of the MBTA’s fare collection systems, agency officials have considered employing a private vendor that could take…
Read MoreMedia concurred that Gov. Baker’s allegations of sunroofs in armored trucks was ‘pure fiction’
On Friday, we released a statement that said the allegations of sunroofs in armored trucks were untrue. We are happy to report that the media concurred and wrote several stories about how the governor was playing fast and loose with the truth in an attempt to justify outsourcing the jobs of those who operate the…
Read MoreUnion stiffens stand against privatization of MBTA jobs
State House News Service | By Colin A. Young | Sept. 12, 2016 BOSTON- Angered by what they described as a new push to privatize jobs at the MBTA, members of the union that represents more than half of MBTA employees filled the audience at a meeting of the Department of Transportation and MBTA control…
Read MoreThe MBTA could consider bus privatization, and one T leader is not on board
The Boston Globe | By Adam Vaccaro | September 6, 2016 A report issued by the MBTA’s oversight board to the state legislature last week suggested that the transit agency could privatize bus operations and maintenance work, prompting a rebuke from a board member with labor ties on the very same page of the report.…
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