B2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, MAY 27 , 2022
BY JUSTIN GEORGEMetro has recertified about
20 percent of its train operators
who were found last week to be
missing required testing and re-
fresher training, a lapse that led to
a leadership shake-up.
Metro board members during a
regular meeting Thursday talked
of “lessons learned” after recent
safety lapses, saying the agency
under interim general manager
Andy Off already is providing the
public with greater transparency
and communication.
“The board’s been very con-
cerned about what we’ve seen and
certainly what occurred in several
instances,” board member Mat-
thew F. Letourneau said. “We’re
paying close attention to what the
[Washington Metrorail Safety
Commission] is saying, and oth-
ers, but you have really focused on
those issues, particularly on the
certification issue.”
The recertifications and Met-
ro’s efforts this week to reincorpo-
rate the suspended 7000-series
trains back into its fleet are wel-
come developments for the transit
agency as it attempts to restore
shaken public confidence after re-
curring safety issues and charges
of management failures. It culmi-
nated in the resignations of Gener-
al Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld and
Chief Operating Officer Joseph
Leader on May 16.
The recertification lapses affect
250 train operators, or about half
of Metro’s employees in that posi-
tion. They occurred after the agen-
cy said it issued waivers during the
pandemic, then didn’t keep track
of the process. D.C. Mayor Muriel
E. Bowser (D) was among the pub-
lic officials who said the problems
demonstrated a management
problem at the agency. Wiedefeld
and Leader resigned hours later.
The Washington Metrorail
Safety Commission, which over-
sees Metro, issued an order the
next day restricting the transit
agency’s ability to turn track pow-
er on or off because of recurringprocedural violations the commis-
sion said potentially threatened
the lives of personnel who might
be on or around the track.
The problems compounded a
seven-month train shortage creat-
ed by the commission’s October
suspension of the 7000 series,
which makes up 60 percent of
Metro’s fleet. The cars were pulled
from service after a federal investi-
gation into a Blue Line derailment
uncovered a defect on several cars
that pushed wheels outward. The
shortage has led to longer waits,
frustrating riders who are heading
back to work for the first time
since the pandemic began.
Off, who was Metro’s senior vice
president of capital projects, told
board members that 45 operators
have been recertified. The agency
is averaging more than five recer-
tifications a day, Metro said.
Off told Metro board members
that his priorities include getting
all 748 of the 7000-series cars rein-
stated — a process the agency be-
gan last week when the safetycommission approved Metro’s
plan to return 64 of them to serv-
ice. Off also cited the opening of
the Silver Line extension to Dulles
International Airport and Lou-
doun County, which has been de-
layed repeatedly since 2018.
“Our focus is going to be on
getting our operations house in
order, most notably addressing
the issues that have been noted
with train operator certification
and power desk operations,” Off
said. “And then also getting after
the 7000 series return-to-service
plan to better increase frequency
on the system for our customers.
And then get Silver Line Phase 2
across the finish line.”
Off said wait times have de-
creased as recertified train opera-
tors return to work. Meanwhile,
rail ridership is nearly 40 percent
of pre-pandemic levels — almost
double a year ago, Off said.
Metro is on target to restore 64
rail cars to service this summer,
Off said — the most that staffing
will allow because cars will re-quire daily inspections for signs of
the defect. Metro expects to bring
the rest of the series back after it
can automate inspections using
wayside inspection stations — ma-
chines that can check wheels for
irregularities — after the system is
tested. The first of the machines
was recently installed, but Off said
he couldn’t estimate when the rest
of the s eries would be restored.
Metro Chief Safety Officer The-
resa Impastato said in an inter-
view after the meeting that Metro
stopped recertification training
when the 7000 series was sus-
pended last fall because operators
used those t rains during sessions.
Metro has received permission
from the commission to use the
trains for educational purposes,
Impastato said.
Off will serve as interim general
manager until Randy Clarke
moves to D.C. this summer to take
over a fter f inishing up a s chief
executive of Austin’s public transit
system.
Metro Board Chairman Paul C.Smedberg praised Off for his ef-
forts and said they demonstrated
“lessons learned.”
“We hope that continues, and
I’m sure it will under Mr. Clarke
and yourself moving forward,” he
said.
Other board members echoed
Smedberg, saying Metro h as
moved in the right direction in
recent days.
“This is a time of transition,”
Metro board member Tracy Had-
den Loh told Off. “And what I’ve
learned so far from the briefings
that we’ve received is that we can’t
create a culture of safety with a
culture of chaos or with strictly
taking punitive measures and
looking for people to punish.”
Smedberg announced at the
meeting that he plans to testify
before a Maryland House subcom-
mittee Wednesday to discuss
“Metro’s oversight and govern-
ance.” Del. Marc A. Korman (D-
Montgomery) said in an email
that Smedberg was asked to speak
after Metro’s recent troubles.THE REGION
Board says Metro is getting back on track after safety lapses led to shake-up
BY KATHERINE SHAVERMore than 50 construction
workers protested Maryland’s
Purple Line project Wednesday,
saying the contractor hired to
complete it has backed off a com-
mitment to hire union labor and
provide agreed-upon wages and
benefits.
The protesters, organized by
the Laborers’ International Union
of North America (LIUNA), said
the new construction team led by
Spanish firms Dragados and OHL
used “misleading tactics” to win
the contract without including a
promised project labor agreement
(PLA). Such a collective-
bargaining agreement typically
commits to using union labor and
paying agreed-upon wages and
benefits, while also prohibiting
strikes, lockouts and other work
stoppages.
The original Purple Line con-
struction team, led by Texas-based
Fluor, had such an agreement be-
fore it quit in 2020 over delay-
related cost disputes with the
state.
The public wrangling with or-
ganized labor comes as the new
construction team, a joint venture
called Maryland Transit Solu-
tions, is gearing up to resume ma-
jor work along the 16-mile light-
rail alignment in August. The line
is scheduled to begin carrying pas-
sengers in late 2026 — 4^1 / 2 years
late — and is $1.46 billion, or al-
most 75 percent, over budget.
The labor protest occurred in
downtown Silver Spring outside
an evening open house, where the
Maryland Transit Administration
and its private concessionaire
managing the project introduced
the new construction team.
Protesters carried signs that
read “keep your word to workers”
and “no broken promises” while
chanting, “How strong? Union
strong!” and “MTS, you’re no good.
Treat your workers like you
should!” In addition to LIUNA’s
construction workers, protestersalso represented unions for heavy-
equipment operators, carpenters,
painters and sheet metal workers,
organizers said.
Steve Lanning, assistant busi-
ness manager for LIUNA Local 11
in the Washington region, said the
unions’ chief negotiator and lead-
ers of the new construction team
recently had been “finalizing” a
PLA that they had discussed since
August. A couple weeks ago, Lan-
ning said, the construction team
stopped returning the union nego-
tiator’s calls.
“They didn’t raise any issues,”
Lanning said. “Just to walk away
after making a commitment likethis is a terrible way to start a
multibillion-dollar project.”
Without a PLA, he said, workers
could strike to insist on labor pro-
tections. Purple Line construction
is expected to involve more than
700 jobs between the contractor
and subcontractors, he said.
“That’s the risk MTS is taking
now,” Lanning said of the new
construction joint venture. “Our
members will clearly be angry and
will want to do something if there
is no project labor agreement. ... If
they’re trying to rein in costs by
hiring cheaper labor, we’re not
going to accept that.”
PLAs have been controversial
on large construction projects for
decades. In February, President
Biden drew criticism from some
industry leaders when he issued
an executive order requiring them
on federal construction projects
valued at $35 million or more.
Supporters say they protect work-
ers and keep large, complex proj-
ects on schedule. Critics say they
exacerbate labor shortages, in-
crease costs and hurt nonunion
companies and workers.
Infrastructure investors Merid-
iam and Star America, which
make up the private consortium
managing the Purple Line project
for the state, did not respond to
questions about the unions’ alle-
gations.
In an emailed statement, DoranBosso, CEO of the consortium
known as Purple Line Transit Part-
ners, said it and the new contrac-
tor “are committed to paying fair
and competitive wages.”
“We welcome the opportunity
to meet directly with LIUNA and
other unions to explore how we
may work together in delivering
the Purple Line to the people of
Maryland in an on-time and on-
budget manner,” Bosso wrote.
“We’re also focused on maximiz-
ing the participation of the local
workforce and small, minority,
women-owned businesses.”
David Abrams, the state’s Pur-
ple Line project spokesman, also
declined to discuss the union’s al-
legations, saying only, “The con-
tract does not mandate or exclude
the use of union labor.”
LIUNA officials said then-
Maryland Transportation Secre-
tary Gregory Slater told the state’s
Board of Public Works in Decem-
ber 2020 that a new contractor,
like the original one, would use a
PLA. Slater’s comments came as
he sought the board’s approval of a
$250 million legal settlement to
resolve the original contractor’s
lawsuit against the state.
Slater told the board — com-
posed of the governor, state trea-
surer and comptroller — that the
Fluor team’s agreement “was a
typical PLA and would be similar-
ly utilized by a replacement de-sign-build contractor,” according
to a video recording of the meeting
on the board’s website. Slater said
the original agreement “is based
upon a standard form that can be
readily incorporated into the re-
placement contract.”
Labor protections — or the lack
thereof — were not discussed pub-
licly before the board approved
the new construction contract in
January, according to a Board of
Public Works video recording of
that meeting.
Lanning said he and others
have contacted more than 20
Maryland lawmakers and political
leaders. He said they include
Comptroller Peter Franchot (D),
who approved the construction
contract as a member of the Board
of Public Works and whom LIUNA
has endorsed in the Democratic
primary for governor.
Edward Burroughs III (D-
District 8), a Prince George’s
County Council member, said any
agreement should commit to hir-
ing local workers, in addition to
providing “strong” wages, health
care and retirement benefits.
“Project labor agreements can
lift people out of poverty and into
the middle class,” Burroughs said.
“It’s important that we put these
requirements in place so we are
uplifting our residents at the same
time that we’re building these
massive projects.”MARYLAND
Unions protest lack of labor agreement for construction of the Purple Line
KATHERINE SHAVER/THE WASHINGTON POST
Trade union members protest Wednesday in Silver Spring over a
new construction team brought in to finish the Purple Line project.BY ALISA TANGMarch for Our Lives, the or-
ganization founded by survivors
of the 2018 mass shooting in
Parkland, Fla., is planning a June
protest in D.C. in the wake of the
nation’s latest school massacre.
The organization urged people
to march in Washington and in
their communities to press elect-
ed officials to “step up and pass
universal background checks,”
after a gunman on Tuesday en-
tered a fourth-grade classroom at
a Texas elementary school and
killed at least 19 children and two
teachers.
“No more. It’s time Democrats,
Republicans, gun owners and
non-gun owners come together
and stop focusing on what we
[can’t] agree on and start focus-
ing on what we can even if small,”
tweeted David Hogg, who was 17
when a 19-year-old shooter killed
14 of Hogg’s fellow students and
three staff members at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School.
“We’re doing another march on
June 11 sign up here and help us
make this time different.”
The D.C. event is primed to be
the day’s main rally. “We’re
marching on our nation’s capital
just like we did in 2018,” organiz-
ers say on the March for Our
Lives website.
Hundreds of thousands of peo-
ple took part in those first March
for Our Lives protests in D.C. and
in cities across the country. Just
over a month after the shooting
at their school, Parkland’s stu-
dent survivors took the stage on
Pennsylvania Avenue to call on
Congress to enact stricter gun-
control laws and end the nation’s
two-decade epidemic of campus
shootings.
In the years since, Parkland
survivors and parents of victims
have protested frequently. In
March of this year, activists used
more than 1,100 body bags to
spell out “THOUGHTS AND
PRAYERS” on the National Mall,
grimly mocking the condolence
often invoked after mass shoot-
ings.
More than 311,000 students in
331 schools have experienced
gun violence since the Colum-
bine High massacre in 1999,
according to a Washington Post
school shootings database. The
Post has found that at least 185
children, educators and other
people have been killed in as-
saults, and another 369 have
been injured.
According to the database, the
median age of school shooters is
16.THE DISTRICT
March for Our Lives planning r ally against gun violence
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST
The March for Our Lives protest on Pennsylvania Avenue in March 201 8, o rganized by survivors of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., mass shooting.Group founded after
Parkland, Fla., shooting
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