Update: MetroAccess call center workers went on strike at 10:30 a.m. Friday over what they say are unacceptable wage increases and other labor issues. The workers provide dispatch, reservation, and scheduling for all MetroAccess paratransit services.

Metro says MetroAccess customers will continue to receive transit service, but may have additional wait time connecting to the call center. They say customers who can use the web booking feature “are encouraged to do so as it will continue operating normally.”

We’ve also reached out to MV Transportation.

“MV left us with no other choice but to walk off the job. We didn’t want to do this to our customers who depend on us. We’ve reached out to groups that represent people with disabilities to let them know what’s going on,” ATU President John Costa said in an email. “These workers have been heroes working since the pandemic began to ensure people who depend on MetroAccess have transportation. For the sake of our members and their passengers, we hope this comes to a quick end.”

Original: Dispatchers who connect people with disabilities to MetroAccess paratransit vans are threatening to strike.

The dispatchers’ union, ATU Local 689, says a 1% wage increase isn’t enough, morale is low, and workers are leaving the job, making serving those that need transportation difficult. 

While a strike is not planned at this time, 97% of its members voted to authorize one. Their contract expired more than a year ago, the union says. 

WMATA outsources the dispatch center to MV Transportation, a private company that operates several transit services across the country. 

“MV workers at the MetroAccess Call Center have been abused and underpaid for more than a decade,” John Costa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said in a release. “The only client MV cares about is the one that writes its check, WMATA, and WMATA apparently doesn’t care about riders with disabilities or the workers they rely on. If it did, there wouldn’t be a private contractor here in the first place.”

A spokesperson for MV says the company does not comment on active negotiations.

The groups are back at the negotiating table on Friday. 

Transit workers in the region have threatened or gone on strike several times in recent years, with the most prominent 85-day work stoppage at WMATA Cinder Bed Road garage. Metro has since got rid of the private contract there and brought management of the garage in-house. ATU also wants to get rid of private management in this situation.