31 MetroAccess workers fired for cellphone use rehired

Thirty-one MetroAccess drivers and staff employees who were fired this year for using cellphones while driving were reinstated last week, officials said Monday.

Wayne Baker, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764, which represents all but 30 of the 1,000 MetroAccess drivers, said the workers were rehired as part of a compromise in union negotiations. The workers were fired after Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. announced in July that any employee using a cellphone while operating trains or driving buses would be terminated on a first offense.

Metro's zero-tolerance policy on cellphone use took effect July 13, and the firings occurred between July and September.

At that time, however, the MetroAccess drivers were operating under a previous agreement with the company that runs the paratransit service for Metro, according to the union and a spokeswoman for the company, MV Transportation Inc. Under that agreement, employees had a three-strikes rule related to cellphone use while driving, company spokeswoman Nikki Frenney said. Frenney said 29 drivers and two mechanics were terminated.

The firings and reinstatement were first reported in the Examiner.

The union fought the firings. As a result of the negotiations, the terminated employees were reinstated last week, and the union agreed that from now on, one cellphone offense will result in firing, Frenney said.

Also, Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates said managers determined that some MetroAccess drivers who were fired had used their cellphones during "extenuating circumstances" -- using them to communicate with the MetroAccess call center.

The drivers are required to stay in constant touch with the dispatch center using company-provided Sprint Nextel phones. In the past, drivers have said they cannot easily pull over in traffic to get directions or additional instructions because they are concerned about being late.

But MV Transportation and Metro officials said MetroAccess drivers are encouraged and trained to pull over and park when using their phones. "They're not supposed to be driving and talking to dispatch," Frenney said.

Metro's zero-tolerance policy was prompted after a widely circulated video showed an operator apparently texting while his train sped down the tracks. Previously, an operator could only be suspended without pay for five days if caught using a phone on duty.

A Metrobus driver who had been on paid leave after she was photographed holding a cellphone to her ear was later determined to be using the phone to talk to the bus control center to report mechanical problems because her work-issued radio did not work. Union officials said she never moved the bus while talking on her phone.