On Thursday evening, a succession of Fairfax County residents took refuge in bus shelters next to the Vienna-Fairfax Metrorail station, bracing themselves against frigid temperatures and piercing winds.
Some of them waited for up to a half-hour for the bus. What they didn’t know, and what some transit apps failed to tell them, was that it would never come.
The Fairfax Connector bus service, the largest bus system in Northern Virginia, has been shuttered since Feb. 22, when hundreds of workers went on strike over contract negotiations for better pay and benefits. The Connector serves about 26,000 passengers on 93 routes daily. Both the union and Transdev, the private company that operates the Connector, say they are unsure when service will resume, though they say they hope to reach an agreement soon.
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After learning about the strike from a reporter, the Fairfax residents waiting at the bus stop pulled out their phones and booked rides home on ride-share apps.
Reyna Nieto, 42, wasn’t taken by surprise Thursday; for her, it’s become a familiar ritual. She has booked rides twice a day since the strike began last Thursday. “When I leave from here, it’s $15 or $16 a ride,” said Nieto, a caregiver who commutes from Centreville to Dunn Loring daily. Normally, she takes the Connector from Centreville to the Vienna-Fairfax station. But for the past week, to get to and from the Metro station, she’s had to book rides that have added up to more than $200.
“Please,” she lamented, “stop the strike.”
At the heart of the strike is an expired contract that Connector workers have been operating under since December, according to the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents more than 600 bus drivers and mechanics. The contract has left the bus workers and mechanics — who make an average of about $56,000 and $43,000 annually, respectively — unable to save for retirement or live comfortably in the area, said Benjamin Lynn, the union spokesman.
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Transdev later contested the union’s salary figures and said the average bus operator made $68,312, while most of its mechanics earned more than $83,452.
“We acknowledge the strike has a severe impact on the community, particularly those that depend on the Connector,” Transdev spokeswoman Mitun Seguin said. “I know that people are trying to find alternative means of transportation. It’s a mad scramble every day to try to get to work. … It’s debilitating.”
Lynn agrees. “The strike was a last resort,” he said. “We needed to take a stand for our rights so we can get a better quality of life.” The workers have engaged in 12 negotiations sessions from October to mid-February, when they decided to go on strike. Union members took a strike authorization vote around Christmas, and 99 percent voted in favor of going on strike, Lynn said.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey C. McKay (D) said in a statement, “I fully support the ability of Connector drivers and mechanics to be treated, and compensated, fairly,” while noting that the cost of a shutdown is “ultimately borne by our residents and must also be considered in these negotiations.”
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In recent negotiations, Transdev offered a majority of bus operators and mechanics a pay and benefits package it said was worth more than $125,000 annually, as well as enhanced retirement contributions. Seguin called it a “very generous and competitive proposal.”
Lynn said it was a “nickel and dime” deal that leaves out new workers and low-level mechanics, who he said won’t make anywhere near those figures. “Transdev can put out this big number,” he said, “but the latest proposal is not sufficient to address concrete needs” like retirement benefits and sick leave. With their current pay, many workers spend most of their earnings on living expenses and cannot take advantage of the company’s retirement match, he continued.
The strike has prompted Transdev to cut off health-care benefits for employees on strike in March, a move that could leave them with hefty monthly premiums.
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“The union is concerned that Transdev is taking this retaliatory action against the employees who are on strike,” Lynn said. Raymond Jackson, the union’s president, said some workers “have taken to driving for Uber. They are driving for the same people that they drive on the bus.”
Seguin said Transdev was “absolutely committed to providing all of our active, working employees with comprehensive benefits and health care. But we can’t continue to do that at a loss if we’re not able to have employees that are working.”
This isn’t the first time the Fairfax bus workers have gone on strike and shuttered service. In December 2019, the union went on strike over unsatisfactory pay, and some buses ran on a reduced schedule.
Some of the Fairfax residents who stood by the bus stops Thursday were unaware of the ongoing strike. When Arsalan Saeed, a software engineer who moved from Alexandria to Fairfax this week, learned of the strike Thursday evening after waiting by the stop for about 10 minutes, he grudgingly opened a ride-share app to get home.
“If I go, it’s going to be $20,” he sighed as he looked at his phone. But what choice did he have?
This article has been updated to include Transdev’s salary figures.
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