Alongside the rapid expansion of the light rail in the Puget Sound region over the last several years, employees at the agency that makes it all happen were seeing the need to come together to protect and enhance the worker-centered culture they had developed there. So, for more than a year, employees in several different roles at Sound Transit (ST) have been working to form their union with PROTEC17.
For Sound Transit workers, PROTEC17 is the perfect fit. In addition to representing thousands of public sector workers in similar transit roles throughout the Pacific Northwest, PROTEC17 has a long experience of negotating successful contracts with King County Executive Dow Constantine – the incoming Sound Transit CEO.
“Times are uncertain and there’s strength in numbers,” said Sound Transit employee Tyler Ramirez. “I’m interested in joining the Sound Transit Union to protect what we have and to ensure a fair working environment in the future.”
The first group at Sound Transit to organize with PROTEC17 was the Passenger Information Coordinators (PICs), thanks to former PROTEC17 member Mindi Mezek who joined ST after leaving her role as a 911 operator at the Washington State Patrol. After filing for certification with the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) early last year and bargaining their first contract last fall, the PICs reached a tentative agreement containing strong language and economic wins in late February 2025 – just in time to get approved as a new chapter of PROTEC17 at the March Regional Executive Committee meeting.
Since the PICs began organzing, over 230 Sound Transit employees in different positions have started the unionizing process, including: Field Activity Specialists, Superintendents, Transit Systems Electronics Technicians, Fare Ambassadors and Supervisors, Transit Systems Program Managers, and employees in the Environmental & Sustainability Division, the Community Engagement Division, and the Construction Permitting Division. There is also a website devoted entirely to Sound Transit employees who are interested in learning more about the unionizing process: soundtransitunion.org. And union member leaders are hosting monthly tabling events outside of Union Station to chat with their colleagues about joining PROTEC17.
This organizing momentum has really invigorated leaders like Gunnar Bjerk, a Senior Project Controls Specialist:
“PROTEC17 gave me the resources and support for my ongoing unionizing effort, and it has greatly impacted my life, giving me hope for the future,” he said.
Welcome to our newest PROTEC17 members at Sound Transit!