Workers at Golden Gate Transit, the transit system that primarily covers Marin and Sonoma counties, are reported to have recently voted 99% in favor of authorizing a strike. After seven months of stalled negotiations, workers are saying “no” to management’s proposal for a wage increase of only 2%, or 64 cents per hour. This does not come close to cover the rising cost of living, especially for Golden Gate Transit workers who are some of the lowest-paid hourly operators in the Bay Area. It’s also particularly insulting because management was just given a raise of 3%.
The transit agency is also severely understaffed. Since September 2020, it has lost sixty employees and failed to replace any of them. To make matters worse, a Covid outbreak recently put thirty bus operators out of commission, straining already overworked employees.
We don’t know yet whether the workers at Golden Gate Transit will go on strike or not, but we should support them nonetheless. Their fight is our fight!
