Samuelsen Testifies at DOT Hearing: TWU Setting Benchmarks in Preventing Transit Worker Assaults

JULY 11 -- TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen brought the union's wealth of experience in combating transit assaults to Washington when he participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's transit assault prevention summit at DOT headquarters today. Samuelsen -- also representing the TWU of America as International Executive Vice President -- told DOT officials including Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan about the dangers transit  workers face day in and day out as they fulfill their mission of transporting millions who depend on a safe ride on public transit buses and trains. "For many transit workers in America, going to work every day means putting themselves in harm's way," he said. "Transit workers who deal regularly with the public often have no guarantee of their physical safety on the job. They are the face of the system. If a rider is frustrated because their bus is late, they take it out on the driver."

He stressed the need for all concerned -- unions, politicians, public authorities, cities, and industry groups -- to take action to protect bus and train operators. TWU Local 100 has set benchmarks for safety including legislation increasing penalties for assaults on operators, decals to advise the public of the new laws, DNA kits to identify perpetrators who spit on drivers, and a just-negotiated provision that obligates New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the nation's largest public transit provider, to install protective partitions in buses by January of 2017. In 2013, he noted, 168 MTA/NYCT Bus Operators were victims of assault on the job. But, thanks to the Union's activism, the tide is beginning to turn against the perpetrator and in favor of the Operators in New York. It's up to the rest of the country to follow suit.IB Image

In Washington, he talked with DOT Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan, and with TWU of America Director of the Transit, Universities, Utilities and Services Division Jerome Lafragola.