Liberty Lines Remembers Barrington Garvey

Brother Barrington Garvey, 46 – a bus operator killed in a traffic accident while returning home from picket duty during the 2005 Liberty Lines strike - was remembered Wednesday at a memorial in Yonkers. 

Rabbi Harry Berkowitz, chief MTA Chaplain, said a brief prayer, and co-workers spoke fondly of Barrington, whose stern exterior contrasted with lighter aspects of his personality. “He was a prankster,” one co-worker said. “He loved to make people laugh,” Chris Garvey, one of Barrington Garvey’s sons, said.

Local 100 Administrative Vice President Angel Giboyeaux and Private Operations Division Chairman Bill Mooney attended the ceremony at the Liberty Lines depot on Saw Mill River Road in Westchester County, along with more than two dozen Bus Operators. Several staffers from Local 100 Headquarters in downtown Brooklyn also attended, including Shannon Poland, assistant to Local 100 President John Samuelsen.

Garvey died April 16, 2015 when his motorcycle struck a car that had suddenly stopped on a highway in Westchester.  Garvey had just left the depot, where he walked the picket line with his Brothers and Sisters. The 2005 strike, which crippled the Liberty Lines’ Bee-Line service, was launched to protest the company’s refusal to agree to a fair contract. It lasted seven weeks.