HYATTSVILLE, MD, June 9—A few weeks ago, over 100 MetroAccess workers, an on-call service for people with disabilities, went on strike against the private contractor MV Transportation, over disputes regarding pay and working conditions. The strike was led by Black women, who organized dispatchers to temporarily close down the call system for the regional MetroAccess bus system in the Washington, D.C. region for a day. Once again proving that Black workers are key to putting this racist, sexist, rotten system out of its misery.
As workers shut down the transportation infrastructure, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends who work for the public transit system joined the picket line, leading chants on the bullhorn, distributing CHALLENGE, and building unity for future joint actions against the transit bosses in the region. Bold class struggle, rather than  relying on politicians, is the way forward as we build militancy in the fight for our class and ultimately for communism, workers power!
The strike was provoked by the racist arrogance of the MV Transportation bosses who offered a ridiculous 13-cent-per-hour raise when these workers make poverty wages below $15 an hour . The use of contractors by the Metro transit system is part of a devious plan by the bosses to divide workers into “better-paid” and “lower-paid”, create animosity among workers, weaken the union and prepare to decimate our income and benefits as an economic crisis in transit looms large. We demand immediate pay equity across all divisions, whether contracted-out or not.
What will happen when the temporary stimulus payments to transit from the federal government stop? The bosses will attack! We must prepare ourselves for the battle ahead. Thanks to the bold workers at the MetroAccess call center for showing us an important step in this fight!
We invite those workers, and all workers, to join the PLP in the long fight for an egalitarian world totally run by the working class. That’s working class power. That’s communism!