TWU Notches Another Bike Share Win in Washington, DC

The D.C. contract covers 75 workers and boosts employees’ hourly pay rates up to 16 percent by the time the agreement expires in 2020. By then, lead bicycle mechanics can expect to earn $22.50 an hour. Workers stocking the system’s docking stations will see their salaries grow  between $18.16 and $19.91 depending on how long they’ve been at the job. 

Whether in NYC, Washington, D.C. or some other busy metropolis, successful bikeshare programs consistently attract former bicycle messengers and other cycling enthusiasts who are especially devoted to the bikeshare concept and enthusiastic about helping it grow. 

“We’re trying to help management see the benefit of prioritizing the lives and needs of the workers because if the workers have a good quality of life and are treated well by the company, everything will be better for all of us,” 33-year-old CitiBike mechanic Laurel Leckert told LaborPress last winter. 

So far, TWU represents bikeshare mechanics, rebalancers, technicians and dispatchers in New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston and Chicago. A single operator — known as Motivate — runs each of those systems, as well as others in San Francisco, Columbus, Chattanooga and Melbourne, Australia. 

Earlier this fall, New York Central Labor Council President Vinny Alvarez cited TWU’s trailblazing organizing as an example of a “re-energized Labor Movement.”

“The New York City Labor Movement, the nation’s largest, has a proud tradition of standing up for the rights of working men and women, and these new union members are continuing that tradition by bringing a voice to a new generation of workers,” Alvarez said. 

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