King County Metro creates a fast-track to bring back workers

King County Metro is struggling to hire and maintain the number of drivers and mechanics needed to take commuters where they need to go. And as people return to the office, and ridership creeps upwards, that need is becoming greater and greater.

Now, the agency has announced one potential solution to this workforce shortage: They plan to rehire and fast-track workers who were let go for not complying with the county’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Soundside guest host Diana Opong talked to Seattle Times transportation reporter David Kroman about the agency's plans.

The effort to rehire workers doesn't mean "a ton" for workers, according to Kroman, but there is one significant detail of the agreement between King County Metro and the local chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union: rehired workers will have to drop any claims against the department.

A total of "19 people who were fired over the the vaccine mandate brought some kind of tort claim against the county," Kroman said.

Those complaints from terminated workers were generally about being denied a religious or medical exemption.

"Beyond that, you basically just have to meet training, qualifications, and licensing qualifications, and then you can have your your old job back back at the same pay level and leave accrual benefits that you had before," Kroman said.

Just over 100 King County Metro employees were let go for not complying with the county's vaccine mandate. About 50 of those employees are operators, and over a dozen are mechanics.

Workers interested in coming back to the agency won't have to go through the application process again, according to Kroman, "it's as if their job was kind of just sitting there waiting for them."

This is notable, Kroman says, because it's different than what other agencies have done.

"The state of Washington, for example, is theoretically open to hiring people who were fired because of the vaccine mandate, but those people have to go through that sort of normal application process again, and are not guaranteed to return to their same pay level or the same leave accrual benefits," Kroman said.

That has huge implications for transportation systems like the state ferry system, which is also struggling with staffing.

"This just kind of shortcuts all of the normal application and hiring process, and lets people get back to driving the bus or fixing the buses, you know, within days literally," Kroman said.

Listen to the full segment above