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. 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 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...