December 2019

Dear ATU Members:

The end of the year is upon us and before you know it 2020 will be here.  As the year closes, I wanted to share a few noteworthy events that occurred in 2019.

 Metro and Access

One of the biggest events that occurred this past year was the SORTA Board’s approval of bringing our paratransit/Access service in house and placing the administration of this service under the control of Metro, rather than a private contractor. As a result, for the first time in the history of this Local, the members who provide this service will now be under the public OPERS retirement system and receive affordable health insurance.

 In 1972, the earnings tax was passed by the voters of Cincinnati in order to help fund operations at Metro. This was originally intended as a temporary fix; however, 47 years later we still depend on this revenue to operate service.  In an effort to address this antiquated funding structure, a plan was created to adopt a sales tax that would replace the earnings tax. The first step towards adopting sales tax funding structure passed- this past November, Issue No. 22 passed, meaning that the earnings tax will be repealed and replaced, if the sales tax initiative passes. The new sales tax is projected to generate roughly 40 million additional dollars. The SORTA Board recently voted to have the sales tax placed on the March 2020 ballot.  Since our livelihood depends on the passage of this new sales tax funding structure, we will be seeking volunteers to come out and knock on doors and work the phone banks. This new system of funding will be a huge help for future contracts and will help our transit system grow.

 Cincinnati Streetcar

The City and SORTA have agreed that Transdev will no longer report to SORTA, but instead report to the City.  While this was reported as a “divorce”, all that really changes was the elimination of the middle man.

 Finally, I am proud to report that we have been working with the ATU International to start a new texting system called Tango to keep our members informed of important issues. The ATU International has preloaded all ATU members’ cell phone numbers into the system so they will be automatically updated. If you wish to stop receiving messages, just reply Stop and you will be taken off the list.

 In closing, since old man winter is now here, please be careful while driving.

 In Solidarity,

 Troy L. Miller                                                                                                      

President/Business Agent