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 boards Monday and aired their grievances with T brass.

“It has become very clear that there is no end in sight to privatization plans,” said James O’Brien, president of the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, noting discussions of outsourcing jobs in the T’s money room, its warehouse operations, and some bus routes and maintenance. “It isn’t good for the hardworking employees of the MBTA, and it isn’t good for the system and it certainly isn’t good for our riders.”

“The hard working men and women of the MBTA are not the problem with this system; the problems lie with the lack of leadership and direction in fixing an under-funded and over-utilized public transit system,” party chairman Tom McGee, who is also the Senate chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, said in a statement. “Governor Baker’s push for privatization does little more than ensure that working men and women would lose jobs. The legislature gave the administration the tools to work with the MBTA, but unfortunately Governor Baker only wants to use what should be a last resort as his first option.”

Click here to read more of the article.