New Shop on Red Line Extension: What Do Workers Want?

A video reading of this article is below the survey.

 

As you may know, the Red Line Extension (RLE) is supposed to have a new yard and maintenance shop at 120th Street. You can access a pretty big 200+ page report (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) at the CTA website to get some decent information about the entire project. 

 

However, I believe the RLE lacks the most important information: How the CTA workers will be affected by it. I suppose that is where my job comes in as the Local 308 Executive Board Member for all the shops: What do the workers want?

The RLE report boasts some nice—but non-specific—features:

• Modern, efficient rail car storage (p. 1-5)
• Yard is a grade level (p. 2-9)
• Employee parking (p. 2-9)
• Old 98th Shop to be used for non-revenue and emergency turn-back (p. 2-9)
• 340 rail car capacity (p. 2-9)

The graphic above has the shop as a brown rectangle, near the top-center, in between the Michigan and 130th Street Stations. That is a long walk for those of us who ride the train to work! 

 

Will we have a protected sidewalk, far away from third rail with lighting? What about those of us who ride a bike to work? Will we have secure bike racks?

 

Frankly, we are going to need a special station stop for this shop. That is, if we are in the head car, we could request the RTO drop us off at a secure one-unit platform.

 

According to page 2-9 of the report, it is supposed to have employee parking. But how many spaces? Will it be a secure lot? Does that mean parking only for managers? 

 

Since we will be surrounded by wetland area (light blue lines in the map), will we have a real recycling program to keep all the metals out of the trash—which ultimately poisons the communities around us?

 

I have so many questions! Don't you?

 

Frankly, I don’t like how the CTA designs vehicles and facilities without worker input. The last time they did that—according to information shared with me by a retiree—was for the design of the 3200 series trains. 

 
It is like CTA mismanagement think we unworthy or are soulless robots that need zero accommodations in order to do our jobs safely.

As a Shop Worker—which can also include clerks, switchmen and instructors that often have tasks in the shops—I need your suggestions for how you want a new shop to be designed. 

Please complete the anonymous RLE Shop Worker survey below. 

With it, I intend on contacting the appropriate persons in CTA management and share it with them. I also intend on arranging meetings with them (your presence would be appreciated).