From Citi Bike in New York to Divvy in Chicago to GoBike in the Bay Area, bike-rental systems move tens of thousands of people each day. Cities need to be investing more in sustainable transportation that alleviates traffic congestion and doesn’t contribute to climate change.

But one city isn’t getting with the program: San Francisco. Instead of protecting its homegrown regional bike-rental system by investing in a public-private partnership, the city is threatening to undermine it. It’s a shortsighted plan that needs to be rethought.

As the leaders of Transport Workers Union Local 250A, we are proud to represent over 2,500 Muni employees who voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with the city last month. Our parent union represents workers who service the nation’s biggest bike-rental systems. So we were dismayed to read recent reports that San Francisco is planning to give permits to dockless bike-rental companies despite the contract for a single-operator system that the city entered in 2015.

None of the dockless bike-rental companies are unionized, and much of the micromobility industry has engaged in troubling antilabor practices. Public transportation built on long-term contracts is the only way to ensure good jobs.

The dockless micromobility industry forces low-income people to fight over the pennies paid to contractors for recharging bike and scooter batteries overnight. Meanwhile, its scooters clutter streets, block wheelchairs and create a public nuisance. Jump, one of the biggest dockless bike-rental companies, is now owned by Uber, a company with a long history of disrespect for and mistreatment of its workforce.

This is not the public transportation future San Francisco wants. The city deserves transportation networks that are reliable, equitable, safe and well-maintained. Ford GoBike — currently being rebranded by its new operator, Lyft, as Bay Wheels — was supposed to be that system, with long-term commitments from the public and private sectors to build it that way. The long-term contract allows the bike-rental program to become an extension of public transit with a workforce made up of full-time, high-quality jobs.

In a March tweet endorsing our drive to organize GoBike workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders noted, “We cannot have a strong and vibrant middle class without a strong and vibrant trade union movement.” Supporting union jobs — whether they are Muni drivers or GoBike mechanics — is key to San Francisco’s future as a city where working men and women can afford to live. Why is the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency setting policy that flies in the face of the city’s progressive values?

The right choice for San Francisco is clear. On the one hand, micromobility companies are using and abusing independent contractors to charge and rebalance vehicles for little pay and no health care or benefits. On the other, the GoBike system’s well-trained union members get solid wages, benefits and opportunities for advancement. Instead of undermining its bike-rental program with ill-conceived “competition” that will result in a race to the bottom, the MTA needs to honor its commitment and strengthen the system it has.

Roger Marenco is the president and Terrence Hall is the secretary treasurer of TWU Local 250A.