The 1970’s was a tumultuous time for public transportation in the metropolitan Washington DC area. The transit system was changed from private companies to a public transit agency, the workforce changed from a mostly white one to a majority African-American one and the Metrorail system began to operate. The period was marked by two major transit strikes, one in 1974 and another in 1978. These strikes, one a union led strike and the second a wildcat strike had a major impact on the region. These strikes led to a change in the union leadership as former civil rights activist and anti-war activists began to emerge as union leaders. As other unions around the country retreated or were defeated, ATU Local 689 continued to grow and achieve improved wages and benefits. The history of the strikes and the lessons for today’s labor movement will be explored.
The six day wildcat strike in 1978 had its origins in a contract arbitration award in 1970. DC Transit and ATU Local 689 could not reach agreement on a contract that year so an arbitrator was called in. The main point of contention in the negotiations was the full cost of living escalator clause. The Simkin Award which was issued on January 28, 1970 resulted in the elimination of the full COLA.
In January, 1973, a new contract was signed which restored the full COLA as well as several other improvements. The same year WMATA took over the bus company from O. Roy Chalk. WMATA immediately began demanding modification of the COLA. They claimed Chalk had not negotiated in good faith because he knew that the company would be sold and he would never have to pay for the effects of changing the COLA.
At the end of April 1974, the union struck over the full COLA. After a three day strike and a court injunction the union returned to work. A negotiated settlement followed, and the full COLA was maintained.
In 1976, when negotiations failed to achieve a new CBA, arbitration was invoked and WMATA announced that they would not pay the July 1, COLA increase pending the outcome of the arbitration hearings. George Davis, the President of ATU Local 689 at the time, told the membership we should accept WMATA’s decision even though he thought it was a violation of the CBA, because he was certain the arbitrator would award the union the increase in his decision. When the Platt Award was announced in the fall of 1976, the July increase was not provided for. The membership felt betrayed and this set the stage for 1978.
Again in 1978, negotiations for a new CBA reached an impasse and arbitration was invoked. Again WMATA announced they would not pay the July COLA pending the outcome of the arbitration process. The membership was outraged. George Davis called for calm, but the membership was not listening. WMATA was put on notice by the widespread anger of the workforce, that if the COLA was not paid a strike was highly likely.
This set the stage for the union meeting of the night of July 18, 1978. Several hundred workers turned out for the meeting. George Davis informed the members there would be no talk of a strike. When several members insisted on discussing the union’s response if the COLA was not on paychecks Wednesday morning, Davis attempted to adjourn the meeting. He walked off the stage and left the meeting room.
Gary Young, a track department worker, took the stage and called the meeting back to order. He asked if anyone wanted to make a motion on the union’s response to Metro’s failure to pay the COLA. Ron Kuba, a bus mechanic, moved that if the COLA was not paid, the union would strike. Many members seconded the motion. Mike Golash, a bus operator out of Northern Division, spoke in favor of the motion. The motion was then approved by the membership without any dissenting votes. The meeting then adjourned.
Workers assembled outside the meeting hall to discuss implementing the decision to strike. The mechanics from Bladensburg Shop and Brentwood decided to walkout at 10:00 am if the COLA was not on their checks. Bus operators and rail operators planned to set up picket lines on Thursday morning. Another meeting was planned for Wednesday evening at RFK Stadium parking lot. Mike Golash called the Washington Post and asked them to send a reporter to the union hall to report on the strike vote. Around 9:30 pm a reporter showed up and interviewed several workers. The Wednesday morning editions of the Post, reported on the strike vote.
At 10 am, Gary Young, George Goodwin, and Herb Bynum led the track workers and rail mechanics out on strike at Brentwood Yard. Harold Hume led the mechanics at Bladensburg Shop out.
At the various bus garages and rail locations, operators continued working, in consideration of the patrons they had brought to work in the morning. A plan was made to have a mass meeting at RFK Parking Lot to organize the strike for the next morning.
At the meeting at RFK, picket lines were organized for all work locations. The late night runs would return to the garages as scheduled, but none of the “owls” would go out. When the pickets arrived at Northern, Gerry Dial, who had not attended the meeting at RFK had already taken the first “owl” out. Jimmy Stieff left to tell Dial to bring the bus back. Within the hour, the bus was back in the garage. Reports came to Northern that the gates at Four Mile and Bladensburg Garage were locked and no buses were going out.
A few buses left Northern, but when they got to Silver Spring to start their routes, they saw the Metrorail system was closed down and they returned to Northern. By early morning the entire system was shut down. The trains were not running and there was no bus service.
At Northern, Bob Lyles, the superintendent, approached the picket line and called Basiru Seasay, an immigrant worker, to return to work. Seasay refused and Mr. Lyles returned to the garage.
At noon time a number of workers from various work locations held a rally at Metro Headquarters to express their determination to management to continue the strike until the cost of living issue was resolved. Bill Scoggins, a bus operator from Arlington, asked all the various work locations to send representatives to RFK Parking lot for a meeting to formalize the strikers’ plans to deal with management. The meeting was planned for Friday morning. There was some confusion about the meeting in that some work locations had sent many workers while others had sent only representatives. The issue was resolved when it was agreed that each group of workers would hold a meeting and select a representative to be on a leadership committee.
At the leadership meeting which was attended by approximately 25 representatives, it was decided to seek legal counsel to represent the strikers in court hearings on Metro’s effort to get an injunction to end the strike and to demand amnesty for all those involved in the strike as well as payment of the July 1 cost of living raise.
These decisions were to be reported back to the membership at the garages and plans were made to attend the court hearings on Saturday morning.
The hearing was held at the Federal Court House in Washington DC before Judge Oberdorfer. After noting that the strike had caused a major crisis in the Washington area and had impeded the functioning of the Federal government, Oberdorfer issued several orders. He ordered WMATA and the union to hold an expedited arbitration hearing to resolve the cost of living issue. He ordered WMATA to provide security in case the arbitration panel ruled in favor of the workers. Lastly he ordered the union and WMATA to hold an expedited arbitration hearing on any discipline resulting from the strike.
Oberdorfer in his closing remarks noted that it was hot in his court room but it would be much hotter in jail if the strikers did not return to work.
After the meeting the 25 representatives decided to meet that evening to plan their response to the court orders. At the meeting Scoggins who had been the chief spokesman for the strikers, advised a return to work. Most of the representatives objected. Scoggins resigned from the committee and was replaced by Eugene Ray, a driver from Four Mile Run Division. It was decided to have a mass meeting at RFK parking lot the following night (Sunday, July 22) to take a vote of the strikers.
During the day on Sunday, meetings were held at the work locations to discuss the Judge’s order and a response, and to announce the mass meeting at RFK parking lot.
The meeting at RFK parking lot was attended by over 1,000 workers. Bill Scoggins spoke and told the crowd that the strike had accomplished all that could be reasonably expected and that the workers should return to work Monday morning. Gary Young, a track worker and Eugen Ray spoke in favor of continuing the strike until amnesty was achieved for the strikers. The overwhelming opinion of the crowd was that the strike should continue.
On Monday the strike continued, but drivers from Arlington Division where Bill Scoggins worked returned to work and management was able to get a few trains back in service. These actions took a toll on worker morale, and whether the strike would continue on Tuesday became a topic of discussion.
On Tuesday morning, meetings were held at all the various work locations, and one by one they voted to return to work. By early morning the strike was over.
Following Judge Oberdorfer’s instructions an expedited arbitration hearing was conducted on the cost of living raise. Arbitrator Richard Bloch ordered Metro to pay the July 1 cost of living.
Mike Golash, George Goodwin, William Powell, Eugene Ray and Gary Young were held in contempt of court for refusing to obey the court order sending them back to work. They were fined by the court
and terminated by WMATA. No contempt citation was issued for Bill Scoggins and he was not disciplined by WMATA.
In accordance with Judge Oberdorfer’s order, an expedited grievance procedure was established for those employees disciplined for participating in the strike. An arbitration hearing was conducted over a three month period from September to November. Arbitrator William Feldesman ordered the four strike leaders reinstated with suspensions ranging from five to eight months.
The role of communists from the Progressive Labor Party was a point of controversy during and after the strike. Peter Sheehan, Metro’s Labor Relations Officer claimed that the entire strike was the result of a communist conspiracy. William Coltrane, a bus operator from Western Division, testified at the arbitration hearing that unspecified communists from New York had played a role in the strike. Bill Scoggins blamed efforts to continue the strike on communists. George Davis, ATU Local 689 president blamed the strike on communists.
Mike Golash and Gary Young were known by many workers as communist members of the Progressive Labor Party. They had played a key role in developing the arguments why a strike was necessary if WMATA refused to pay the COLA on July 1. In the months before the strike, they had talked to hundreds of workers about the issues, passed out literature about it and attempted to make the union strike ready.
At the July union meeting, Gary Young called the meeting to order after President George Davis had walked out to prevent a strike vote. Mike Golash spoke at the meeting strongly favoring a strike. Gary called for the strike vote and announced that it was unanimous. After the meeting Mike Golash contacted the Washington Post to publicize the strike vote and the next day Gary Young led workers out at Brentwood yard to begin the strike.
Although Progressive Labor members played a key role in the strike, the strike occurred because the union leadership refused to fight on the COLA issue which nearly every worker at WMATA felt extremely important.
In the aftermath of the strike, George Davis and Rodney Richmond, the top two officers of the union were defeated in the next election.
Gary Young was elected to the Executive Board of the union in the early 80’s and subsequently left the company.
George Goodwin also left the company in the 80’s.
Eugene Ray passed in the early 90’s
Bill Scoggins had a massive heart attack two months after the strike ended and died.
Mike Golash continued working for WMATA as a bus operator. He was elected to the Executive Board in 1995, Financial Secretary in 2001 and President in 2004. He retired in 2010.
