Petition is successful with 1,218 signatures
To: Metro Management, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway
DEMANDS FROM WORKERS AT MADISON METRO TRANSIT
Won two weeks of paid sick, reduced service and some guarantees after going public and to the media. Didn't get a lot of the safety measures we needed.
Transit workers are demanding the following immediately:
1. Back door entry and exit for passengers – suspend all fare collection during the crisis. Only passengers with wheelchairs should be using the front door, to minimize exposure to both drivers AND passengers. Schedule paratransit service whenever possible for passengers with wheelchairs.
2. Hazard pay for essential workers. We are putting our lives on the line and being exposed to everything out there. We need to be compensated accordingly. Time and a half pay for all workers who must be present at work.
3. Proper safety equipment. Masks and gloves as soon as they are available. Temporary safety shields in front of drivers like they have at grocery stores. Tyvek suits while blowing out buses and other safety equipment for workers servicing buses – the virus doesn’t stop when the bus comes back into the garage.
4. Bathrooms NOW and ALWAYS. The City does not provide restrooms for drivers, making us depend on private businesses who don’t always welcome us. These businesses are now closed. We need sanitary facilities immediately, particularly for females, and when this is over the City MUST PROVIDE BATHROOMS.
5. Limit Exposure During Emergency Scheduling This pandemic is expected to go on for months. Emergency scheduling needs to be fair and shouldn’t overlap shifts. The new weekly picks need to be consistent with four-day work weeks.
Why is this important?
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown the City and our lives into a full-blown crisis. The City of Madison has recommended work from home for its professional employees but is maintaining essential services. This is a hazard situation. People need essential services like transit, groceries, and medical care. The workers providing these services are having our health and our families’ health at risk every time we walk through the door. We keep this city running by moving people, driving doctors, nurses and patients, grocery store clerks and shoppers. We are on the frontline and we are being asked to hold this city together. Without us, many will not get what they need to survive.
We’re being asked to be on the frontlines but we’re not being treated like the emergency workers we’re told we are. Morale is not good.
