Metro's transit 'ambassadors' head to a union vote and want more pay, benefits

By Steve Scauzillo | Daily Breeze

LOS ANGELES — Though praised by LA Metro staff, one sector of Metro's Transit Ambassadors — teams who patrol trains, platforms and buses to make riders feel safer — are unhappy with working conditions and are seeking to unionize.

About 75 to 100 ambassadors employed by Strive Well-Being Inc., a third-party contractor, plan to vote June 9 and June 10 on the question of whether to unionize, Fabian Bolanos, an ambassador leading the unionization effort, said on Monday, June 5.

Those voting "yes" will be choosing to join the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1756 (ATU), he said. Those voting no oppose the plan.

If a majority votes for the plan, Strive Well-Being must negotiate with the union bargaining team in the future, according to federal and state labor laws.

Strive Well-Being based in San Diego did not return phone calls and emails. The company is one of two firms contracted by Metro in June 2022 to hire ambassadors; the other is RMI. In total, the two companies have hired 300 Transit Ambassadors — guides who give people directions, help riders navigate the system, and also respond to the homeless and those using illegal drugs.

Metro did not comment on the ambassador group's demands or its unionization effort. "Metro is aware of the upcoming vote but is not a party. Metro is neutral regarding the organizing effort," Metro wrote in an emailed response on June 5.

While the ambassadors guide foreign tourists to their hotels or help them find the right trains or buses, the ambassadors also get involved in stickier situations that plague Metro, including assaults and drug usage, Bolanos said. "We were the first ones there when a nurse was assaulted on the Red Line (B) at the Westlake/MacArthur Park train station. She ended up with a black eye," Bolanos said.

Wearing green polo shirts and carrying only phones or iPads — and no firearms — the ambassadors act as part travel guide and part transit host, but also report crime and drug use to law enforcement, connect the unhoused to Metro's homeless crisis teams and alert the custodial staff about messes and litter.

"We are the first point of contact for a lot of things," Bolanos said. "It is not just giving people directions."

Bolanos said the job has become more intense and more dangerous. Since he started in October 2022, his duties have intensified from greeting passengers and handing out maps to reviving drug users who've overdosed on fentanyl aboard a train or in a station.

He has been trained to administer Narcan to those overdosing on opioids, he said. So far, he's revived four people who were found unconscious on trains, buses or train stations, he said.

"We want an increase in wages because there is a lot more responsibility in our duties than they were originally telling us," he said. "Some of what we do is social work. We help with mental health patients who are off their meds and in a crisis. Some is part emergency work when someone is overdosing."

The ambassadors earn $23.50 an hour and about $5 is supposed to be used to find healthcare because health insurance plans are not offered, he said. He also said the ambassadors paid by Strive Well-Being are demanding regular performance reviews so employees can use their reviews to seek raises or promotions, he said.

They are also asking for break rooms, health insurance, and contracts — and that their employers keep track of points earned by the employees, so they can use their service time to apply for Metro jobs.

"We deserve to be treated like other Metro employees, like the custodians, rail operators or security officers. We are part of that ecosystem," Bolanos said.

Because the ambassadors are employed by contractors, and are not employees of Metro, they are not eligible for Metro employee benefits or wages. Metro has said the ambassadors program is a "three-to-five-year pilot program," technically making the ambassadors non-permanent workers.

When Metro used third-party companies to contract out, that put the ambassadors into a two-tiered employee system, and that may be at the center of the unionization effort, said John Ahlquist, professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at University of California San Diego.

Ahlquist does not have firsthand knowledge of the ambassadors' contract, but spoke in general about what he called a fissured workplace. "Metro chose to use a third-party vendor rather than hiring these workers directly. It puts an administrative barrier between the corporation — in this case Metro — and the employment relationship. You are creating a two-tiered workforce," he said.

He said these Metro ambassadors are in the same kind of fight as Uber and Lyft drivers, who are contract employees. "The result is these ambassador people can be treated differently than permanent workers," he said.

"The pilot has been great. Let's move forward and make this permanent and issue proper documentation and contracts," Bolanos said.

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