Advocates for Labor and Progressive Institutions

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News

MARTA ordered to restore over 300 paratransit employee positions and to reinstate employees it had terminated

February 2, 2017

An Arbitration Board ordered the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (“MARTA”) to restore over 300 paratransit employee positions and to reinstate employees it had terminated after MARTA had outsourced their jobs and terminated their employment with the Authority.

The Board concluded that the outsourcing violated the collective bargaining agreement with Local 732 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, and it ordered MARTA to make the employees it had terminated whole for whatever wages or benefits they lost on account of MARTA’s breach of the contract. Although the collective bargaining agreement lacked any provision expressly prohibiting MARTA from outsourcing paratransit services, the Board concluded that previous arbitral decisions precluded such subcontracting unless MARTA acted in good faith. MARTA did not satisfy that standard because the Board found that MARTA acted out of anti-union animus, in an effort to avoid its obligations under the collective bargaining agreement, and in a manner that reduced the size of the bargaining unit by over ten percent. The award effectively nullifies a five-year subcontract between MARTA and a private contractor valued at over $100 million. Bredhoff & Kaiser represented Local 732 in the arbitration.