Skip to main content
Less than a week before TriMet begins interest arbitration on a new contract with its driver's union, relations between the union and General Manager Neil McFarlane have deteriorated.
About 300 drivers for TriMet's LIFT paratransit program went on an unexpected strike early this morning—forcing TriMet to cancel 3,000 of its 3,800 daily door-to-door rides to elderly and disabled people. The transportation agency said its 150 non-union drivers were handling life-sustaining calls.
The union called off the strike just before noon to return to the bargaining table.
The LIFT drivers, who are not TriMet employees but work for a contractor, gathered outside TriMet administrative offices this morning. As the agency discussed a budget plan to address a $13 million shortfall, the striking drivers inflated a giant rubber rat they dubbed "Neil" after McFarlane.
"Mr. McFarlane, if you want a strike, you got a strike," Amalgamated Transit Union 757 president Jonathan Hunt yelled into a megaphone on a stage next to the inflatable rat, such rats being a staple of union rallies. Hunt also called TriMet "the most anti-union taxpayer-funded bunch of horse you-know-whats we've seen in a long time."
Upstairs, McFarlane told the board that he had been informed of the strike early this morning. He said TriMet would not intercede in negotiations between contractor First Transit and its LIFT drivers.
"It's those two parties that have to get together and resolve this issue," McFarlane said.
TriMet begins its own interest arbitration with ATU 757 over an expired contract on Monday. The agency says it can no longer afford its drivers' health benefits.
Hunt told WW that the LIFT drivers' strike against its First Transit bosses is a sign of larger waste in TriMet.
"If TriMet's broke," Hunt said, "why are we paying a subcontractor to have three general managers, supervisors for each of their divisions, and office staff? It's double work. It just doesn't make sense."
The drivers then held a press conference, after brief concern they would have to unplug the rat from their generator to power the microphones.
WWeek 2015