The Transport Workers Union is blasting Akron Metro leaders and warning of a potential strike, partly because of secretive pay bonuses totaling around $72,000 given to Metro CEO Dawn Distler while workers have been denied raises.
Akron Metro Bus Operators and other workers, represented by Transport Workers Union Local 1, haven’t had a raise since June 2023. Distler received two annual pay raises since then. And Akron Metro’s board, led by Board President Mark Derrig, voted behind closed doors in executive sessions to give Distler an 18% bonus in January 2024 and a 20.5% bonus in February 2025.
“Akron Metro throws piles of cash at the CEO while refusing to negotiate a fair contract for the men and women who do the actual work, under very tough conditions,” TWU Local 1 President Wayne Cole said. “Distler’s bonuses alone amount to more money than some Bus Operators make all year. This is outrageous.”
Metro Board President Derrig is chairman of the Summit County Democratic Party. He has also been actively involved in his union, CWA Local 4302, as a Chief Union Steward and Legislative Chair, according to his bio.
“It’s absolutely hypocritical,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “The Democrats are supposed to be the party of the working class. Unions exist to defend workers and advance their livelihoods, not take the side of bosses and lavish them with huge pay bonuses. We will take aggressive action if Metro doesn’t come to its senses and negotiate a fair contract.”
The new TV ads in Akron come after TWU workers in Philadelphia, with the full backing of TWU International, achieved victory with a tentative agreement for SEPTA workers just hours before a strike was about to be called, Samuelsen said.
“All of our focus is now on Akron,” Samuelsen, who represents 163,000 workers in the airline, rail, and transit industries, said.
TWU International Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate traveled from Philadelphia to Akron along with TUUS Division staff.
“We weren’t playing games in Philly, and we’re not playing games here,” Tate said. “Akron Metro needs to do right by the hard-working men and women who move the city of Akron. It needs to stop dragging its heels and get a deal done.”
Transport Workers Union Local 1 represents Bus Operators, Vehicle Service Workers, and Clerical Workers. Akron Metro has hired an anti-union, or “union avoidance,” law firm from St. Louis, McMahon Berger, to negotiate with Local 1. McMahon Berger charges Akron Metro $290 an hour. Distler hasn’t attended a single negotiating session, Cole said.
To grant Distler the bonuses, the Metro board twice paused a public meeting towards the very end and went into a closed-door “executive session” to vote. In both cases, the board resumed the public meeting, briefly mentioned that percentage bonuses were approved for the CEO, and adjourned. Board member David Prentice was the only ‘no’ vote in the February 2025 vote. He is the Executive Secretary Treasurer of the Tri-County Labor Council, AFL-CIO.