Around 70 streetcar operators and maintenance workers in Kansas City intend to unionize with Teamsters Local 955 following record ridership during the FIFA World Cup games.
The workers cite stagnant wages, insufficient staffing, a lack of benefits, and increased workloads from expanded routes and FIFA World Cup crowds as key factors behind their demands for higher pay, better hours, and improved safety.
“I’ve gotten to see it triple in size, and I’ve gotten to watch it bring literally hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and growth to downtown Kansas City,” operator Greta Erhart told monopoly media, who has worked on the system since 2015. According to RideKC’s website, ridership reached roughly 1.7 million by the end of May.
One worker told The Worker, “Since we’re short staffed and we have a strict break schedule, if something happens on our way to transfer it will eat into our time… management has even told us we’re not guaranteed breaks.”
Teamsters Local 955 President Jerry Wood said 90% of operators, maintenance workers, and mechanics have signed union authorization cards, signaling their intent to hold an election monitored by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
“We feel we lack a voice individually and want the power to speak as one,” a worker told The Worker.
The streetcar system is operated and maintained by Herzog Transit Services on behalf of the city. Herzog employs an estimated 2,500 workers and brings in a yearly revenue of $796 million.
In 2018, Herzog workers in Arizona were killed and injured following a train derailment incident. The monopoly brought charges against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in New Jersey to stall unionization efforts.
The Herzog family funnels part of its massive profits into foundations that push for school privatization and Christianization, being named in Project 2025, and also fund the ultra-reactionary Senator of Missouri Josh Hawley.
Streetcar workers in Kansas City recently held a public demonstration outside Herzog’s building to present their demands.
Image: A CAF Urbos 3 streetcar of RideKC in Kansas City, 2016. Credit: Jason Doss on Flickr.
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