Solidarity on Display as Transit Workers, Advocates Rally

2500 Transit workers and supporters rallied a block from Penn Station on May 4, in an event timed to coincide with other actions taken around the nation to protest the insufficiency of federal funding for mass transit. The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke as part of the Keep America Moving coalition, an alliance of transit workers, advocates for workers and the poor, and environmentalists, that has been spearheaded by TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen and ATU International Vice President Larry Hanley.

 

For Local 100, the event was not only about Keep America Moving, but also about the pending layoffs of 450 Station Agents this Friday and the planned layoffs of up to 750 Bus Operators. Union members expressed their profound anger over the firings, which are seen as unnecessary because of the availability of $140 million in federal stimulus funds which could be used to cover operating expenses. Jay Walder, Chairman of the MTA, is refusing to use the funds for that purpose. Local 100 Station VP Maurice Jenkins addressed the rally in an emotional speech, tearing up a layoff letter Walder and vowing to do everything he could to get his members back to work.

 

Jackson, the nation’s foremost civil rights activist, told the crowd that “transit jobs are green jobs,” and that, “when you roll, America rolls.” Earlier in the day, he had addressed a 12 Noon rally on Boston Common at the invitation of ATU Local 589, which operates Boston’s T subway and light rail system.

 

Notable at the event was the presence of a large number of rank and file members of transit locals from the New York and New Jersey metro area. Making a particularly impressive appearance was LIRR Local 56, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, whose contingent of a hundred members made a grand entrance carrying their banner and American flags. After the rally, angry Local 100 members marched to MTA Headquarters at 347 Madison Avenue to demand justice for Station Agents from MTA Chair Jay Walder, but were penned across the street by police officers.

 

Our list of supporters at the rally included the Co-Op City Coalition to Stop Transit Cuts, the NYC Student Union, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, WeAct, Brooklyn Tech’s Progressive Student Awareness, the Sierra Club (Dan Miner of the NYC Chapter), the Indypendent, the Bail Out the People Movement, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, Ya-Ting Liu of Transportation for America, and Union officials including Jim Little, TWU International President, Anthony Simon of the UTU, Denis Hughes, President of the New York State AFL-CIO, Chris Silvera of IBT Local 808, Dean Devita of SEIU, Daneek Miller of ATU Local 1056, John Costa, President of the New Jersey ATU State Council, Angelo Tanzi of ATU Local 726, Mark Gerling of ATU Local 1321, Benjamin Evans of ATU Local 819, Chris Natale of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, and political leaders including Councilwomen Leticia James, Melissa Mark Viverito, and Margaret Chin, and District Leader Marion Bell of East Harlem.