We Mourn Alone

 

It’s heartbreaking that our local transit brothers and sisters are largely unaware that two operators have been murdered on duty in Seattle and Atlanta. It’s a failure of leadership that condolences and sympathy was not immediately shared with those of us who are just as vulnerable as those two lost souls. At least they provided a bus, but it took some work by Amalgamated Transit Union 757 officers to make it happen.

Thank you Bruce Hansen and Henry Beasley, along with 13 local members for making the trip from Portland (a 4am “report”) to represent US in the procession of buses to the memorial.

I keep asking myself, where were TM leaders? When will Sam offer words of solace and comfort? Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International President John Costa traveled from New Jersey to be there, but did anyone in our management make the trip? A free ride was available.

In the words of another operator, Tampa’s Thomas Dunn, murdered in 2019, “WE are the lug nuts of transit.”

RIP Shawn Yim of King County Transit, and Leroy Ramos of Atlanta’s MARTA.

Be safe, my fellow transit workers of all stripes. This is my constant prayer.