Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld to eliminate 500 jobs

By Paul Duggan

June 27 at 10:56 AM 

Metro announced a major workforce reduction Monday, saying it will eliminate 500 jobs in coming months that “are no longer deemed critical” to the beleaguered transit agency, which is struggling to deal with declining ridership and revenue woes.

General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld, who fired 20 non-union Metro employees last month in what he called a management “restructuring,” said in a memo Monday that a far more sweeping staff reduction is necessary “in order to operate in a businesslike manner and achieve cost savings” in the next fiscal year, which begins Friday.

While the firings on May 20 involved a relatively small number of employees in Metro’s 13,000-member workforce, the new round of job cuts will impact not only managers but lower-level unionized workers, Wiedefeld said.

“I have directed the elimination of a total of 500 positions over the next several months,” Wiedefeld said in his memo to all employees. He did not specify which jobs would be cut or how many of them are currently vacant.