Abstract Please note this interview was recorded over a telephone call. Carolyn Stieff reflects on her time as an active member of the WMATA union Amalgamated Transit Union 689. Thrust into the labor movement in 1974 while still in her first months on the job, she participated in the 1974 wildcat strike. After that experience Carolyn soon got involved in the union. She speaks about what it was like to be one of the first female bus drivers in DC, a role that brought her both harassment and praise...

Abstract Please note this interview was recorded over a telephone call. Craig Simpson reflects on his life as a labor organizer, with special attention to the 1978 Metro Strike and the nearly three decades working with the labor movement as an employee of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Craig remembers the events between 1974 and 1978 that led to the 1978 Metro wildcat strike in precise detail. While the previous generation of bus drivers was entirely white men, the...

Abstract Please note this interview was recorded over a telephone call. In this oral history, James Daniels reflects on his time working at WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) and his work with the labor movement while at WMATA and beyond. He also speaks about his time growing up in South Carolina, where he lived until he was 12. The part of South Carolina he is from was still dependent on the cotton economy, and as a young child he picked cotton on a plantation. He remembers the...

Abstract In this oral history Michael Golash talks about how his early life influenced his decision to take a leadership role in the 1978 Metro wildcat strike and the ways that the strike played a central role in many of his future decisions. First, Golash speaks about growing up in Albany, New York where observing the city's party-machine helped to formulate his early ideas about politics. The 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was another key point in his political development. Golash's...

Abstract Ron Majors reflects on his decades working as a bus operator for WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) and the importance of the union for strengthening the rights of workers. Though he joined Metro in 1980, two years after the 1978 Metro wildcat strike, he saw evidence of the strike's lasting legacy regarding labor militancy all around him. Ron talks about what it meant to always be 'strike ready' and how this affected labor relations. He also speaks about his Catholic...

Abstract Please note this interview was recorded over Zoom. Sandra Perrin reflects on her experiences organizing and doing political work as part of the union that represented Metro workers. Her story begins with her childhood in Washington, D.C. Born to two working class parents, she developed a love of reading fueled by the bookmobile that would regularly visit her neighborhood. When her father died in a car accident, her mother became the wage earner. She speaks about her time at Howard...

Abstract For six days in July of 1978, workers in D.C.’s Metro system brought the city to a halt. Angered by violence against bus drivers and their eroding real wages in an era of high inflation, Black and white workers united and walked off the job in defiance of management and the leadership of their own union. The 1978 wildcat strike helped guarantee that Metro would remain a source of family-sustaining jobs for Black working class Washingtonians. This project interviewed participants in the...