Photo by washingtonydc

The streetcar is now a union shop.

Workers voted by a 4-1 margin to join the Amalgamated Transit Union on Friday, joining more than 10,000 WMATA employees as part of ATU’s Local 689.

But it was a bumpy ride to get there. Shortly before the Amalgamated Transit Union planned to hold an election last year, the management company that operates the streetcar fired eight employees.

While RDMT said the workers were let go for infractions on the job, ATU believed that they were fired in retaliation for signing union cards. They took to the streets in protest and filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

The NLRB ruled in the fall that there was enough evidence to justify the firings, including using cellphones on the job. But RDMT and the union also came to an agreement whereby the company had to read aloud a notice to workers, saying said they would not interfere with union organizing activities.

“After November, our focus shifted to ensuring that those workers still on the job had the representation that they and their dismissed co-workers had been fighting for,” said ATU organizer Todd Brogan. “Friday represents a victorious culmination of that effort.”