King County Metro workers are demanding an end to racism at Metro job sites. The calls for change come nearly three weeks after a racist display was found at Metro's south base facility.
"I will say that King County Metro is very good at keeping things under the rug. Just because you don't hear about it and just because you aren't at hearing about the incident, doesn't mean that they're not taking place," said Cheryl Jones, a Metro bus driver and member of the Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity.
Jones says she wants to see some change.
Last week, a group of Metro workers held a protest at the south base site in Tukwila.
Organizers said Metro failed to address its racist culture and a recent incident involving a statue of a Black person next to a flag pole and rope at a job site.
"We had a list of demands, and one of which was to put up posters at the worksite denouncing racism. Now, that's something, the protest took place Thursday afternoon. It would have only taken a few hours to throw up a few posters," said Jones.
Among the list of demands in an online petition, workers are asking for immediate action when racist threats happen and a more diverse workforce at all levels.
After the protest in June, Metro published this blog post, saying it acknowledged the pain and truth of a systemic racism issue and is committed to treating the root cause.
The post says leadership is taking action to address the people involved in the June 2 incident.
KING 5 reached out to King County Metro to talk about the action steps taken to address racism within the workforce. We were referred to the blog post and told an action plan was not immediately available.
In response to our request for an interview, KING 5 was offered an interview with a King County Metro official next week.