The TWU scored a truly unprecedented “David and Goliath” victory over an international transportation conglomerate: securing a contract that raises wages for our MBTA commuter rail workers in Boston by 23%, provides paid sick time for the first time ever, and includes a $2,000 signing bonus.
Coach Cleaners, who were earning very low starting wages, are really cleaning up. Their staring pay rate immediately moves from $19.65 an hour to approximately $32 an hour – and will increase by 66% over the life of the 5-year contract. The long-standing, five-year progression to reach the top Cleaners’ rate will be now scrapped.
Transport Workers Union Local 2054 represents Coach Cleaners and Car Inspectors employed by French-owned Keolis. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority hired Keolis years ago to operate commuter rail service between Boston, the city’s suburbs, and part of Rhode Island. The company is owned by the Paris-based National Company of The French Railways, which earned $45.5 billion in revenues last year. That puts it on par with corporate giant Coca-Cola.
“This is really a David and Goliath victory,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “This corporation is huge. It has operations and holdings around the world. When they refused to bargain in good faith, we launched a strategic campaign against them, relentlessly pummeling them with a wide array of tactics. We fought back and we prevailed.”
The Local-International campaign included sending a barrage of digital messages to Massachusetts State Legislature members revealing how the carpetbagging company grossly underpaid workers here – and then sent profits back to France to subsidize transit operations over there. TWU also lobbied elected officials in the State House, leafletted commuter railroad riders, and flooded Keolis’ Paris headquarters with negative digital ads. The ads berated executives for Keolis’ miserable treatment of U.S. workers. Local 2054 also took a strike authorization vote.
“It was an incredible campaign that resulted in a historic contract,” Local 2054 President Ed Flaherty said. “This contract will have a ripple effect across the industry.”
The collective bargaining agreement is retroactive to July 2023. The annual raises are 5%, 4%, 4.5%, 4.5% and 5%. Workers will receive retropay: $3,000 on average for Cleaners and $7,500 for Car Inspectors.