WASHINGTON, DC -- APRIL 27, 2010: Over 3,000 transit workers, primarily from TWU and ATU local unions -- converged on Upper Senate Park today in the shadow of the Capitol to demand better funding for mass transit. Giving a rousing speech to the crowd was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has made this cause his own. He said that the cause of mass transit was the cause of working America, because before people can get to work, or get to the hospital, they must have a functioning transit system. The Rev. Jackson led the rally in a chant of "transit jobs are green jobs," saying that better mass transit means less cars on the road, which equals less toxins in the environment and less contribution to climate change.
TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen, who brought the largest contingent of transit workers to Washington, spoke of the national transit crisis and the urgent need for the federal government to shift priorities within the transportation budget.
Also speaking were Union leaders including James Little, TWU President, Warren George, ATU President, and Jackie Lynn Jeter, President of our host local in the DC area, Local 689. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn) also took the microphone, promising transit workers that he would "talk about the mass transit crisis today" on the House floor.
The rally came as the capstone to a powerful organizing effort which saw 50 buses of transit workers come from New York and New Jersey, and rank and file members delivering Keep America Moving literature packets individually to every Member of Congress. Bus Operator Prakash Mahabir has just over two years on the job, but he boarded a bus at 5AM to ended up stepping into the office of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina with a Keep America Moving folder. Because the Senator was out, he delivered the packet to Graham's aide Taylor, and described the dimensions of the transit crisis to him, stressing its environmental value as well. Taylor gave Mahabir the name and number of Graham's staffer in charge of transit issues, Colin Allen. And we'll be following up with him next week.
Stations Vice Chair Derrick Echevarria had better luck with his visit to an Alabama Congressman, who listened to Derrick and took the packet, telling the TWU Local 100 member that he had already been briefed on the mass transit crisis by New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Keep America Moving national coordinator JP Patafio, who put in seven-day weeks since coming on board full time at the Union, told the crowd, "we accomplished our objective today," while holding up a Keep America Moving briefing folder.
