Arlington County bus drivers lashed out at what they called “arrogant, arbitrary” management Monday morning, and, by evening, found themselves fired. The drivers went on strike to protest working conditions and what they called sexual harassment from Forsythe Transportation, the contractor that runs the Arlington Transit buses.
Drivers shouted and paced with signs outside Forsythe headquarters from around 4:30 a.m. until well into the afternoon. Forsythe warned the workers they would be fired if they did not return to work by noon, and in the afternoon terminated all but a few who returned.
“Sometimes you get pushed to the point you just have to stand up,” bus driver William Alston said. “It’s been an accumulation of things.”
Union spokesman Charles Smith said Forsythe management sexually harassed employees, switched drivers’ schedules unfairly, didn’t pay enough and refused drivers bathroom breaks.
The strike was ignited when the company sent home union leader and employee Patricia Blowe for wearing a union button on Thursday and fired her the next day, Smith said.
“You can’t fire the union head and think that we’re going to take that lying down,” Smith said.
Company owner Bill Forsythe said it was a mistake to punish Blowe for wearing the button, but insisted that she had not been fired but rather was suspended pending an investigation.
“They bypassed all their legitimate means of handling this,” Forsythe said, adding that the company had offered to negotiate with the union.
Forsythe and Arlington County estimated only 20 drivers were striking, about a quarter of ART’s drivers, but union workers and drivers said around 70 were striking. Forsythe said he wasn’t worried that he would lose the contract with the county, which requires bus service to continue without disruption. Supervisors substituted for drivers Monday, and Forsythe said he was looking to hire permanent replacements soon.
Bus service continued throughout the day with delays; one route was canceled.
Smith said workers planned to continue their protest Tuesday.
