Capital Metro Bus Drivers and Mechanics Prepare to Strike

As we were waiting for our daily lift across the bridge to our own personal hell work this morning, we noticed flyers taped to the bench at the bus stop shelter deriding both the Capital Metro Chairman and his general manager for being unfair to organized labor. As you may know, Capital Metro bus drivers and mechanics have been at the precipice of strike now for a few weeks. At issue are wages for new employees and employee health care benefits. There is also some minor concern of employees about random drug testing.

When we boarded we asked our friendly driver if they were going to strike. She responded tersely, “Yep. Friday!”

Our first thought was a selfish one, “We don’t mind walking home after work and getting all sweaty, but we don’t want to walk TO work.” Then we checked ourselves and thought about the issues in more important terms, “How will this affect these workers? How will it affect our city’s transportation structure? Who is right and who is wrong here? Surely the drivers and mechanics have a right to unionize and strike, but at what costs come their actions?”

Capital Metro is an important part of our day-to-day lives, but we realize it is greatly underutilized and maintains a fairly high operating budget already. And we don’t really have a problem knowing that the people driving us around town are not stoned; hell, if you want a stoned driver, call a taxi. So we are stuck with the age-old battle between corporate management and unionized labor. In the meantime, non-union employees will work for Capital Metro, and buses will run on scaled-back schedules. Where do you stand on this issue? How relevant is our city’s public transportation? How will the strike affect you? Will you throw oranges at the scab bus drivers?