Community and Labor Groups Urge LA Metro to Refrain from Awarding New Flyer New Contracts
The Jobs to Move America coalition hand-delivered a letter to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board (Metro) outlining concerns with New Flyer, a bus manufacturing company and potential bidder for the agency’s latest purchase for 1,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) and 200 zero-emission buses.
The letter urges Metro to refrain from awarding any future contracts to New Flyer until the company resolves two pressing issues regarding recently-issued Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations and releasing public documents demonstrating their compliance with job commitments made in a previous contract in 2013.
In November 2016, New Flyer was issued eight serious OSHA violations at its plant in Anniston, Alabama, where some of Metro’s future buses may be produced. After receiving these citations, New Flyer leadership contested several OSHA citations. The coalition believes Metro should require contractors to comply with all relevant health, safety and workplace laws as a condition of receiving multi-million-dollar contract funded with taxpayer dollars.
The second concern mentioned in the letter is New Flyer’s refusal to release records to the public that demonstrate the company complied with job commitments made in its 2013 contract with Metro to manufacture up to 900 CNG buses. In fact, New Flyer has sued Metro to prevent the release of this essential information. Los Angeles County residents deserve to know whether New Flyer has fulfilled its previous obligations on job creation before handing over hundreds of millions of dollars for a new contract.
“Our coalition represents community, faith, labor, environmental and workforce development groups, all of which are taxpaying organizations. New Flyer is a company that has already taken our tax dollars with a promise to create good jobs in the United States. Given the company’s lack of transparency and the outstanding safety issues at its Anniston facility, our coalition strongly urges LA Metro not to award any future contracts until it addresses those issues,” said Erika Thi Patterson, Policy Director at Jobs to Move America.
Members of the Jobs to Move America coalition include the Communication Workers of America District 9, Earthjustice, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, LA Voice, PV Jobs, South Bay Los Angeles 350, and the United Steelworkers Local 675, Sierra Club.
