Two stewards per shift at Union Station, one each at every other deployment!
Term length of three years or less!
Sign here! Note: please include employee/badge number in the comments.
Having completed our first contracted year as IBT 986 members, many Metro Ambassadors are left wondering about the term status of our shop stewards. There was never a defined or outlined term limit conveyed to us nor can any such information be found in our local’s bylaws.
As it stands, we have seven shop stewards serving around 200 Ambassadors, spread across six deployment sites. There has not been a strategic effort to disperse an equal number of shop stewards across deployment sites nor consideration of proportionality to ambassadors at each deployment site. Shop stewards service at deployment sites has been left to be randomly designated based on the individuals’ respective bidding results.
Out of the seven shop stewards currently serving, only two were voted in by IBT brothers and sisters at one deployment site, Union Station. As a result of the recent annual bidding, only one voted shop steward remains at Union Station.
We need a reconfiguration of shop stewards per deployment site to more effectively serve their fellow rank n file co-workers.
We, the dues paying IBT 986 Ambassadors at LA Metro feel that we all deserve a chance to democratically elect the shop stewards who are here to serve and uplift us.
Sign here and please include badge number in the comments.
“The timing could not have been more devastating; the decision hit just as my family had welcomed a new baby and we were on the verge of buying our first home. Overnight, a qualified, safe, and deeply committed transit operator was sidelined by bureaucracy,” an affected former Metro Train Operator told the Committee.
Hundreds of union members at the Los Angeles Metro have been stripped of their commercial driver’s licenses. A new rule from the US Department of Transportation no longer permits some immigrant workers who legally work in the US and have passed the Commercial DMV test to receive a CDL. Why are union leaders refusing to fight back? Let’s dig in.
The threat to workers’ CDLs first emerged last September when US DOT Secretary Sean Duffy issued a new rule excluding DACA recipients, among others, from receiving CDLs. According to the Train Operator the Committee spoke with, their CDL was revoked due to their DACA status.
The false idea that immigrant drivers are more likely than other drivers to have fatal accidents was first spread by Secretary Sean Duffy. The media repeated this idea, creating a false sense of urgency. The public began to believe that action was needed to ensure road safety.
It was never true. According to the government’s own data, immigrant drivers are much less likely than their peers to be involved in fatal accidents. Additionally, fatal accidents are at their lowest in years.
Again, the former Train Operator that the Committee spoke with: “Throughout my career, I have played strictly by the rules—earning two college degrees, maintaining an entirely spotless criminal record, and working hard to build a life here. However, my career was abruptly upended by a sudden federal policy shift.”
California’s DMV has so far complied with the rule, revoking CDLs as they come up for renewal. California is proving to bosses that it will be a reliable partner when it comes time to further cut driving jobs throughout transportation and logistics through technology.
A former Metro Bus Operator describes the emotional toll: “I lost not only a stable career, but also a sense of purpose, independence, and progress that I had worked hard to build. The job gave me structure, confidence, and the ability to support myself, and losing it forced me to take a significant pay cut and reevaluate my future.”
Hundreds of unionized operators and mechanics at Metro have lost their licenses. Many were reassigned as Metro Ambassadors. Metro gains the most from this. Workers with years of experience and proven reliability on the job now receive the least pay. Is it any wonder that Metro has not protested the rule change?
The bigger question is why union leaders aren’t taking action. Workers reassigned as Ambassadors are now in multiple unions, owing monthly dues to each union! While workers feel the pain of reduced pay, reset seniority, and dues doubled, union bank accounts remain safe.
Union leadership is refusing to see the flashing red light ahead. The same month California DMV stopped renewing workers’ CDLs, it started allowing public employers, like Metro, to begin using autonomous vehicles for passenger service. This shows how workers can be suddenly put out of work by new rules and replaced by technology.
Rank-and-file workers, both immigrant and native-born, must fight together. The State and Federal Government are paving the way for tech bosses to displace workers. The truth is that replacing workers through technology today only allows bosses to buy our labor cheaply tomorrow. Rank-and-file workers must fight to protect our right to good jobs with living wages. Workers at Metro must stand up for their fellow workers who have been denied a CDL. Failing to do so, they are next.
Works cited:
‘Administration Creates New Restrictions for Truck and Bus Driver Licensing’, Eno Center for Transportation
‘Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Takes Emergency Action to Protect America’s Roads, Restrict Non-Domiciled CDLs’, US Department of Transportation
This Friday, join us to watch and discuss the documentary Labor’s Turning Point, about the 1934 Minneapolis General Strike which kicked off the transformation of the Teamsters into an industrial union and helped lay the foundation for the establishment of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. This film can help us to answer many important questions for the US labor movement today: Was the January 23 “No Work, No School, No Shopping” action against ICE in Minneapolis a real general strike? How should we respond to UAW President Shawn Fain’s call for a May Day general strike in 2028? What can we do now in our unions to prepare for the type of mass action that can paralyze the economy, deal meaningful blows against the ruling class, and win working class demands? Let’s come together to study this important chapter in US labor history and figure out what lessons it offers us nearly a century later!
We in COFTU have signed the petition explained by Teamsters Mobilize below.
Join us to demand that Labor Notes reverse their ban of Teamsters Mobilize member Colleen Donovan from the 2026 Labor Notes conference: bit.ly/labornotesban
On Friday, April 24th, 2026 Teamsters Mobilize Steering Committee member Colleen Donovar received an email from Labor Notes stating:
“Dear Colleen, We will not be able to accommodate vou at the 2026 Labor Notes Conference in Chicago. We have refunded your ticket in full. You should receive your refund within a few business days. Best, Labor Notes Registration Team”
While Labor Notes provided no explanation in their email to Colleen, we think it’s obvious that they banned her because of her role in Teamsters Mobilize. TM has been consistently critical of the Teamsters union leadership under President Sean O’Brien and of the leadership of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). Since TDU supported O’Brien’s run for office in 2021, its leadership has continued to back O’Brien despite his blatant betrayal of Teamsters members and support for ruling class attacks on workers like ICE’s cold-blooded murder of Renee Good.
So how did TDU respond to our criticisms? In summer 2024, their leadership rescinded the membership of another TM Steering Committee member, Jess Lister, who previously ran for the TDU Steering Committee. Our petition with over 130 signatures to reinstate Jess as a member of TDU was completely ignored by them. Later, they summarily banned all TM members from the 2025 TDU Convention!
Labor Notes shares an office with TDU and both Labor Notes and TDU receive funding from the Social Justice & Solidarity Fund, which TDU Co-Founder, Ken Paff, sits on the board of. Up unti now, TM members have not faced any explicit repression from Labor Notes (although we were denied a table this year) and many of TM’s members attended the 2024 conference. Now the Labor Notes leadership appears to be cracking down on militants in the labor movement at a time when the US working class is facing ever greater attacks from the ruling class. Labor Notes actions clearly demonstrate which side they are taking in that struggle.
We must take a stand against this decision by LN leadership now!
Over 100 operators and a dozen mechanics at LA Metro have been affected by the Trump & Newsom administrations cancellation of commercial drivers licenses (CDLs). Join in solidarity with unionized LA Metro workers standing up to restore CDLs for our operators and mechanics! Stand against ICE! Meet other unionists and workers in LA who share our struggle for labor conditions we all deserve!
Gather at the southeast corner of 6th and Park View at 9:45 am
Join us to demand that Labor Notes reverse their ban of Teamsters Mobilize member Colleen Donovan from the 2026 Labor Notes conference: 