Metro board members unanimously approved service cuts and a buyout plan Thursday aimed at avoiding as many layoffs as possible as the transit agency faces a $176 million budget shortfall due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency will offer retirement-eligible employees $15,000 to leave in hopes that several hundred workers will accept the incentive — part of an effort to shed 1,400 jobs. The move didn’t sit well with Metro’s biggest employee union, which called on the agency to wait for help from the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, which has pledged an initial $10 billion nationally for transit.
The agency will offer retirement-eligible employees $15,000 to leave in hopes that several hundred workers will accept the incentive — part of an effort to shed 1,400 jobs. The move didn’t sit well with Metro’s biggest employee union, which called on the agency to wait for help from the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, which has pledged an initial $10 billion nationally for transit.
