Fired D.C. streetcar operators violated cellphone policy, labor board finds
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Version 0 of 1. D.C. streetcar operators violated a no-cellphone-use policy, and their firings this year were legal, despite coming within weeks of a scheduled vote on whether to form a union, a National Labor Relations Board inquiry has concluded. The NLRB also found that two operators who damaged a streetcar while backing it up “failed to follow the proper procedure for moving a streetcar on the yard.” Although both operators were union supporters, their representatives failed to prove that their support was what got them fired, the board found. One of the streetcar companies, RDMT, a subsidiary of a French transportation conglomerate, said it was “relieved” that the board did not reinstate the employees. “RDMT maintains a strict no-cellphone-use policy, the purpose of which is to protect its employees, passengers, and the people of D.C.,” the company said. Related allegations that private firms operating and staffing the streetcar system had interrogated employees about their union sympathies and threatened them with retaliation — including losing their jobs — if they unionized were settled in an NLRB-approved agreement between the firms and union. RDMT and the Midtown Group, a District staffing agency that recruits operators, last week gathered streetcar employees at a temporary maintenance facility to read aloud a series of declarations about illegal activities the companies promised never to engage in. The Amalgamated Transit Union said the forced public reading, emailing and posting of the list proved the companies had engaged in illegal labor practices. But the companies said that the opposite was true: They had not broken the law and had no problem pledging to not behave illegally in the future. Among the declarations read aloud in a break-room trailer beside the temporary streetcar maintenance tent were: ●We will not unlawfully ask you why you wanted a union, or unlawfully tell you that you should have come to us because we could have solved the problem. ●We will not unlawfully give the impression that we are surveilling your activities on behalf of any union. ●We will not unlawfully tell you that we will have to remove or get rid of mechanics and operators if employees chose to be represented by a union. The companies also were required to remind workers that federal law gives them the right to “form, join or assist a union” — or to choose not to. Dan Smith, an attorney for the union, said the statements in each case correspond to instances of improper behavior by the companies. Smith noted that if the companies fail to comply with the agreement, the NLRB would issue a complaint that consists of the “We will not” items. According to the text of the agreement, if the terms aren’t met, the companies agree “that all of the allegations of the Complaint will be deemed admitted” and that they would have waived their right to answer the complaint. “That’s nice to be vindicated in that regard,” Smith said. “It demonstrates what we’ve been saying all along.” But Jennifer Sweeny, an attorney for RDMT, said in a statement that such language is standard. RDMT “intends to continue to comply with the law, which is why it did not have a problem agreeing to this language,” she said. “While RDMT denies each and every allegation lodged by the Union in its charges, RDMT felt that it was in the best interest of all parties involved to settle the remaining allegations.” Meredith Campbell, an attorney for the Midtown Group, said the company “firmly denies any wrongdoing.” The company preferred not “to waste time and resources to fight this.” The union alleged the companies had been unlawfully motivated to view video recordings of the operators. But the NLRB said the evidence showed the companies “had legitimate and nondiscriminatory reasons for their review of the streetcar’s video cameras.” A District official said the video footage clearly showed at least one operator using a cellphone while at the controls of a 35-ton streetcar. The streetcars are operating but are not carrying passengers. |