O F F I C I A L J O U R N A L O F T H E A M A LG A M AT E D T R A N S I T U N I O N | A F L- C I O/C LC
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2017
I m a y Wh ed? so tir
Will I be assaulted?
What am iIn? breathing
Do I have a safe and secure workplace? Will I hav a bathroo e m break? Why am I so stressed?
Is my bus safe?
WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL IS DOING
INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS LAWRENCE J. HANLEY International President JAVIER M. PEREZ, JR. International Executive Vice President OSCAR OWENS International Secretary-Treasurer
NEWSBRIEFS
INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS RICHARD M. MURPHY
Newburyport, MA – rmurphy@atu.org
JANIS M. BORCHARDT
Madison, WI – jborchardt@atu.org
PAUL BOWEN
Canton, MI – pbowen@atu.org
KENNETH R. KIRK
Lancaster, TX – kkirk@atu.org
MARCELLUS BARNES
Flossmore, IL – mbarnes@atu.org
RAY RIVERA
Lilburn, GA – rrivera@atu.org
YVETTE TRUJILLO
Thornton, CO – ytrujillo@atu.org
GARY JOHNSON, SR.
Cleveland, OH – gjohnson@atu.org
ROBIN WEST
Halifax, NS – rwest@atu.org
JOHN COSTA Kenilworth, NJ – jcosta@atu.org CHUCK WATSON Syracuse, NY – cwatson@atu.org CLAUDIA HUDSON Oakland, CA – chudson@atu.org BRUCE HAMILTON New York, NY – bhamilton@atu.org MICHELLE SOMMERS Brooklyn Park, MN – msommers@atu.org JAMES LINDSAY Santa Clarita, CA – jlindsay@atu.org EMANUELE (MANNY) SFORZA Toronto, ON – msforza@atu.org
INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES DENNIS ANTONELLIS Spokane, WA – dantonellis@atu.org STEPHAN MACDOUGALL Boston, MA – smacdougall@atu.org ANTHONY GARLAND Washington, DC – agarland@atu.org ANTONETTE BRYANT Oakland, CA – abryant@atu.org SESIL RUBAIN New Carrollton, MD – srubain@atu.org CURTIS HOWARD Atlanta, GA – choward@atu.org
ATU CANADA PAUL THORP
Brampton, ON – president@atucanada.ca
ATU International would like to thank Local 589-Boston, MA for generously donating the above plaque of Tommy Douglas. It is displayed in the lobby of the Tommy Douglas Conference Center. Next time you are at the Center be sure to take a few minutes to check out the plaque.
Local 591-Hull, QC members picket as negotiations founder Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO) workers have been working-to-rule, refusing overtime hours and reporting buses for repairs as contract talks have stalled. Local 591-Hull, QC, has been working without a contract since December 2014. The outstanding issues are overtime and retirement pay. Both sides are in the midst of a series of negotiations under a federally appointed mediator.
ON THE COVER: Circulator operator and ATU activist Natalie Washington, 689-Washington, DC, graciously volunteered to be photographed for this issue’s cover.
INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS EMERITUS International President Jim La Sala, ret. International President Warren George, ret. International Executive Vice President Ellis Franklin, ret. International Executive Vice President Mike Siano, ret. Subscription: USA and Canada, $5 a year. Single copy: 50 cents. All others: $10 a year. Published bimonthly by the Amalgamated Transit Union, Editor: Shawn Perry, Designer: Paul A. Fitzgerald. Editorial Office: 10000 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20903. Tel: 1-301-431-7100 . Please send all requests for address changes to the ATU Registry Dept. ISSN: 0019-3291. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40033361.RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: APC Postal Logistics, LLC, PO Box 503, RPO, West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill ON L4B 4R6.
CONTENT
JAN/FEB
2017 Vol. 126, No. 1
9 ATU women leading labor councils coast-to-coast
DC Local fights back against WMATA scapegoating
10 Winnipeg members mourn brother stabbed to death on job
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CANADIAN LOCALS COME TO THE DEFENSE OF TORONTO MEMBERS
ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 12 The most difficult job in the world Transit work routinely rated as one of the least healthy occupations 15 A safe and secure workplace - a matter of life and death 16 Driver assault 18 Death by design - Lack of safety regulations and criminal negligence 19 The air we breath - ‘Warning: Toxic Fumes!’ 20 Neglect of maintenance a danger to everyone
THE MOST DIFFICULT JOB IN THE WORLD
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22 Bathroom breaks become issue as computers take over scheduling 24 Operators suffer higher rates of stress, depression 25 Coping with PTSD
2 International Officers & General Executive Board
News Briefs
26 EM active seats hold promise of reducing musculoskeletal disorders
3 Index Page
27 Diet, exercise so important for transit operators
4 Legislative Agenda: Will the real Donald Trump please stand up?
28 Driver fatigue: scourge of OTR operators
5 International President’s Message: Join ATU’s campaign for health and safety
31 In Memoriam
6 International Executive Vice President’s Message: We were made for these times
29 Translations (Spanish)
32 ATU Online Training Videos
7 International Secretary-Treasurer’s Message: Trump supports bill to undermine workers who supported him
IN TRANSIT
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LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
Will the real Donald Trump please stand up? “Let me tell you this: Unions still have a place in American society. In fact, with the globalization craze in full heat, unions are about the only force reminding us to remember the American family.” — Donald Trump, in his 2000 book The America We Deserve
Yes, you read that right. Our new president – the same man who now says that he supports right-to-work (RTW) laws (allowing workers to opt out of paying fees to a union that will have to represent them anyway) – actually believes that unions now matter more than ever. So which Donald Trump are we likely to see emerge in the coming weeks and months? Unfortunately, given the far-right people in his inner circle and conservatives in Congress who are chomping at the bit to put the last nail in Labor’s coffin, it’s likely that Trump will be led down a path to hurt working families. The irony of course is that he won the election thanks mostly to the support of working class people in the Midwest – many of whom belong to a union. Talk about a self-inflicted wound! As this edition of In Transit goes to press, Missouri was days away from becoming the 28th RTW state. Now, the focus is on the U.S. Congress, which can take a shot at a national right-to-work law if Trump goes along.
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Do they have the votes? Do they have the votes? It’s a bit too close for comfort, and Labor will need all hands-on deck to fight off legislation introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, R-SC. You might remember him as the man who rudely interrupted a speech by President Obama in 2009 to a joint session of Congress by shouting “You lie!” This should make us all a bit uneasy about finding some adults on Capitol Hill who can be persuaded to reject this attempt to cripple unions. We, of course, will do all we can to fight off this attack, but in the end, it may be up to President Trump to stand up and tell conservative lawmakers what he apparently truly believes about the role of unions in our society. The national AFL-CIO, which has its headquarters directly across the street from the White House, should take the excerpt from Trump’s book and put it on a giant billboard on its roof so that the president can see it every day while eating breakfast. v
LARRY HANLEY, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
Join ATU’s campaign for health and safety This issue of In Transit covers a litany of safety issues that affect transit and school bus workers. From the day we start working in the industry, repairing or driving vehicles, working in stations or cleaning, our bodies are exposed to a plethora of hazards. The International Union, working with and through the Locals is doing more than ever to keep us healthy. This issue explores everything from engineered blind spots that are killing pedestrians and ruining drivers lives and careers, to smoke that is coming into your bus right from the rear exhaust. Smell those fumes?? We talk about the ergonomics of your driver’s seat, neglectful maintenance, bathroom breaks, track safety, coping with depression and PTSD. Diet, exercise and driver fatigue are also reviewed.
Death in Winnipeg
Jake. “We all come to work here –we don’t come to die,” says Anne Feeney the labor singer. That’s right – but nobody will save us if we won’t save ourselves. Let’s get to work. In 2013 we created a Health and Safety unit here at the International Union. It’s work is well known to local officers. I want you to know that we are working every day to make our jobs healthier, safer and more satisfying.
Join us We need Local Unions and members to join us in hearing that call. We can fix this, but we need a complete re-work of the driver’s work station so that riders cannot reach us, but which also has a shield that is comfortable for the driver. They have them in Europe (see page15). Join our campaign to demand new workstations now! Ask at your union meeting if your Local has signed on to the campaign! v
On February 14, in Winnipeg, MB, ATU member and bus driver Irvine J. Fraser was stabbed to death by a young passenger. This again calls us to demand that our agencies do everything possible to stop transit worker assaults. In maintenance departments, many ATU mechanics and cleaners still work in terrible conditions. The death of Local 568 mechanic Jake Schwab reminds us that it’s not only drivers who face deadly hazards in transit. Our Pennsylvania members are working on a campaign to get a safety law passed.
Honoring Jake All PA members are urged to ask their local officers how each of us can do a little bit to save our members and honor IN TRANSIT
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JAVIER PEREZ, JR., INTERNATIONAL EXEC. VICE PRESIDENT
We were made for these times I’ve had numerous calls, emails and face-to-face conversations with concerned members since the inauguration of President Trump. Some express anger, despair, and disbelief; others say, “It’s about time!” We’ve seen commentators, bloggers and tweeters fan the flames of controversy on the Right, and the Left. Anyone, today, can produce a podcast, write a blog, post something on Facebook, or create a website to promote his or her version of news – regardless of its accuracy. And that is having an ever greater impact on our nations as people get their news from social media and cable networks. Think about the political slogans: “Make America Great Again”, “Stronger Together”, and “Change We Can Believe In”. How many were more than four or five words long? This “dumbing-down” of civic discourse has turned off many who are starting to believe that nothing can be done. Discouraged, they have given up on the political process.
Sick of both US parties Believe it or not President Trump has tapped into, and exploited the anger and frustration that the labor movement has been talking about for decades. Citizens say they are sick of a government led by either Democrats or Republicans who make no attempt to bring the nation together in pursuit of common goals. Recently we have seen rallies in Washington, DC, throughout the U.S., and in countries across the world calling for resistance to the Right-Wing slogans that are becoming public policy through executive order. The Washington Post recently opined, “A restive, active and aggressive base is a gift – and a challenge – for
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Democrats.” How long will the resistance be sustained? Remember the short-lived Occupy movement? What will it take to move people to sustained action?
Driving justice I believe, however, that a growing number of people are deciding to resist an increasingly repressive government in the U.S. ATU and the labor movement will be an active component of that resistance. We are a Union that makes things happen. We are a Union driving justice. We are a Union that has been in the trenches fighting for the rights of our members and working families. And, as someone recently posted on the internet, “We were made for these times.” So we must add our voice, time, and talents to those that are crying for justice in our countries and around the world. Indeed, we must lead the way. I urge you as a member of this great International Union to get involved. Call your local union office, volunteer, attend a meeting, and work with your co-workers and allies to shape a more desirable future for us all. v
Please visit www.atu.org for more information and the latest ATU news.
OSCAR OWENS, INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER
Trump supports bill to undermine workers who supported him I’m writing this at the end of the fourth week of Donald Trump’s presidency – and I don’t have to tell you what a tumultuous four weeks it has been. Those of us old enough to remember, haven’t seen this much turmoil since Vietnam and Watergate dominated headlines around the world. You’ve got to hand it to the president, he really knows how to dominate the news. The media feels duty bound to seriously discuss at length anything he says – no matter how ill-informed or outrageous – providing cover for the Republican majority in Congress to do whatever they want – or so they think. Representative Joe Wilson, R-SC, has introduced a national right-to-work (RTW) law that the GOP has wanted to pass for decades. And, now, with control of both houses of Congress and the White House, as a recent Village Voice headline says, “Union-busting Republicans [are Licking] Their Lips at the Possibility of a Federal Right-to-Work Law.” President Trump says he supports the bill.
A dangerous assumption It’s hard to square Trump’s promise to advance American workers’ economic prospects with his announced support of this plan to destroy the one thing that improves wages, benefits, and working conditions. Of course, contradictions like that typify this administration, and no one really knows what this president will do until he does it. That may be why informed union members who cheered Trump’s election have been so quiet – believing that, in seeming accord with his campaign position, he will change his mind and use his influence to block passage of, or veto the bill. That, however, would be a dangerous assumption. It is much more likely that Trump will go along with Congressional Republicans, as he says he will, and support the bill. And when it becomes obvious that Donald Trump is really no friend of workers; when wages go down instead of up, I hope that the union members who were misled into voting for Donald Trump last year will join us in fighting this union-busting legislation. v
A coup d’état The Republicans’ goal, as International President Larry Hanley says, is “to disable the only movement of working people in America so that corporations can come in and exploit them… It is a coup d’état against working people.”
Please visit www.atu.org for more information and the latest ATU news.
Ordinarily this would be pretty big news, but the media frenzy created by the president’s daily circus blots out most of the coverage you would expect of a proposal to fundamentally change federal labor law.
IN TRANSIT
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Locals from across Canada come to the defense of Toronto members Locals from across Canada came to the defense of the members of Local 113-Toronto, ON, at a news conference in the wake of rogue Local President Bob Kinnear’s unilateral attempt to take members out of the Union in February.
the fact that Brother Kinnear, and I say “brother” in a very loose term, is trying to paint a picture of Canada against the United States, and it’s just not a true picture…. “It’s a sad day, but the good thing is that we are standing here proud, and I want to send a message to our brothers and sisters who we share a border with Local 113. And I want you to know that 1582 has your side along with every Local in Canada, and every Local in the United States, and at the end of this we will be standing tall.” Manny Sforza, international vice president: “We’re here to protect the interest of our members. We have support, not just here, but as you can see, across this great country. “One person does not make a union. Bob Kinnear walked away from us. He can do whatever he wants, but he does not represent us.
Here are some of the comments made at the event: Paul Thorp, president of ATU Canada: “I put out a call to my brothers and sisters,” he said, “and the response was overwhelming. They didn’t hesitate to get on planes, trains, and cars to come to represent the ATU Local that they love. “We have people here from Saskatoon; we have people here from Regina; we have people here from Ontario; we have people here from Edmonton.” “They want people to understand that this is never about an ‘American takeover.’ This has been about one person’s bid to tear an organization down for their own self-gain. And it bothers me. It hurts me that this person who professed his love for this organization has the audacity to say the things that have been said.” Local President Margaret Gilbert, 1582-Niagara Falls, ON: “I love this union. I love the members that I work with, and I love my job as a bus driver for over 20 years. ATU has been there for me for every thing we have asked them for… They’ve been there financially and every way we’ve needed. These people mean a lot to me, and I’m proud to be here.” Jack Jackson, 1572-Mississauga, ON: “It was my pleasure to stand here today and express the concern that I have and
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“Bob Kinnear made a decision in his own interest to leave the union, but we’re here standing for your best interest – which is to stay with ATU. Our brothers and sisters are invested in the issues that matter most to transit workers. That’s our only focus. “Transit workers: ATU is all of us. We are transit workers. We’ve stood together in solidarity for 120 years.” v
ATU women leading labor councils coast-to-coast From coast-to-coast ATU Locals across North America have a long history of fighting for the rights of not only ATU members, but all workers and their families in their communities. Now, two of our local presidents are taking bigger roles.
Jackie Jeter On the East Coast, Local President Jackie Jeter, 689Washington, DC, has taken the reins of the 200-member Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, becoming the first woman to head this organization. Jeter said about her election, “I’m looking forward to working with all our stakeholders, our executive director, officers, board members, and our vibrant network of allies to continue to make a real difference for working people in our region.”
Yvonne Williams
“There is no greater honor than to serve the working class. Although, organized labor is 11 percent of the workforce, we are the cornerstone of workers. We are strong, resilient and more relevant than ever in today’s Trump era,” said Williams. These two great ATU leaders are leading the way and working families can rest assured they are in good hands. v
And on the West Coast, Local President Yvonne Williams, 192Oakland, CA, was elected as president of the Alameda County Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
DC Local fights back against WMATA scapegoating Local 689-Washington, DC, is fighting back against the misinformation spread by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) scapegoating its members for safety violations that are really the fault of bad management. WMATA has fired a large number of track walkers alleging that they falsified track inspection records when they were in fact performing their jobs under supervision and in the way WMATA trained them.
The facts and record show that it was the very systems that management put in place and the “hush hush” culture it maintained which led to safety failures at WMATA, including the L’Enfant Plaza fire in 2015, which resulted in one death and several passenger injuries, and the East Falls Church derailment in July 2016. Local 689 is fighting for reinstatement of the fired track walkers, and continuing its campaign for the establishment of an authentic safety culture at Washington’s Metro. v
By contrast, where WMATA failed, Local 689 assembled the expertise to examine the situation and the record. IN TRANSIT
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Winnipeg members mourn brother stabbed to death on job
“My fellow brother was murdered for doing his job last night, that’s all I know.” That’s how one operator reacted, reflecting the grief and frustration of his fellow transit workers upon learning of the murder of Irvine “Jubal” Fraser, 1505-Winnipeg, MB, on his bus at 2 a.m., February 14. Brother Fraser is the first Winnipeg driver ever killed on the job.
‘Senseless’ Upon hearing the news, International President Larry Hanley ordered the flags at ATU’s Tommy Douglas Conference Center lowered to “half-mast,” and issued a statement saying, “I want to express our deepest sympathy and heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of our fallen brother Irvine “Jubal” Fraser as a result of a senseless act of violence while doing his job serving the public. And, our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters of Local 1505 as they deal with this terrible tragedy.” Fraser had just reached the end of his route at the University of Manitoba when he went to the back of his bus to wake a lone sleeping rider.
Operators Nelson Giesbrecht and Jody Prokipchuk joined other Local 1505-Winnipeg, MB, drivers to mourn the loss of fellow operator Jubal Fraser who died February 14, when he was stabbed by a passenger at the end of his run.
Police who saw the security camera video of the incident say that the suspect followed Fraser to the front of the bus, saying he didn’t want to leave. “He was asked many, many times to exit the bus,” police say until Fraser physically escorted the man off.
A 22-year-old suspect was arrested later that day and charged with second degree murder.
“A scuffle ensued – a physical altercation – and it ended up outside the bus,” says Local President John Callahan.
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“Sadly, things just escalated from that point,” says a police spokesman. Fraser was stabbed multiple times in the upper body. “Even with the efforts of emergency personnel, he couldn’t be saved,” he added. A spokesperson for the University of Manitoba, said, “Transit drivers provide such an invaluable service for the university day in and day out and we all need to work together to ensure they all have their safety guaranteed for them.”
Fraser and wife recently lost daughter Callahan spoke to Fraser’s wife, who was distraught and still recovering from the recent death of a daughter. She and Fraser were raising their granddaughter together and Fraser was considering retiring as early as next year, Callahan said. “I don’t want Irvine’s death to be in vain,” says Callahan, “It’s just surreal to think that you can lose your life... just driving a bus. We’ve talked about driver security for a long time and we always worried about this – the worst-case scenario – and it’s actually happened.”
‘This is just a guy doing his job’ The tragedy in Winnipeg has reignited alarm among operators and the public about the potential for violence on Winnipeg transit.
statutory holiday while she was driving the bus,” said Local President Scott Lovell, 1722-Kelowna, BC. The problem began when a young man boarded the bus without showing his pass. The man became agitated when the driver asked to see his pass. “A couple minutes go by, and the guy still didn’t show anything, says Lovell, “then he says, ‘l’m going to punch you,’ and he punches her in the head while she’s driving the bus, with passengers on it. “Somehow she managed to pull the bus over safely and then he reached across her, stepped on her and crawled out her window. She has the boot print on her to prove it.” A suspect has yet to be apprehended.
‘Traumatic’ Lovell says it was a traumatic situation, not just for the driver but also all the passengers who were careening along at highway speed when the incident occurred. “I am stunned and so proud of her that she was able to carry herself and the bus after being cold-cocked in the head,” he said. “Can you imagine what would have happened if he’d knocked her out?” “These assaults are not stopping,” he says. “How many bus drivers need to be killed before you change things for drivers?”
“This is just a guy doing his job and you should not end up dead at the end of your shift,” says Callahan. “It’s tragic and we need to really have dialogue on things that can be done to protect these working men and women.”
Local President John Callahan, 1505-Winnipeg and ATU Canada President Paul Thorp
Kelowna driver ‘cold-cocked’ on highway Violence also broke out on an express Highway 97 bus in the Central Okanagan hours earlier when, “One of our female bus drivers was assaulted… during the family day
Hanley called for action to address this growing problem of attacks on bus drivers. “Transit workers cannot go to their job, and passengers cannot travel on public transportation in fear of being attacked and assaulted. ATU demands that transit agencies and government officials bring the same sense of regret that they will display in the public mourning of this tragic, unnecessary death of our brother to the ongoing discussion about preventing these attacks from occurring.” v IN TRANSIT
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
The most difficult job in the world TRANSIT WORK ROUTINELY RATED AS ONE OF THE LEAST HEALTHY OCCUPATIONS No matter where you are or what you do, it isn’t easy being a transit worker. Whether in Canada or the United States, you endure some of the highest rates of illness of any occupation. Whether you work as a metropolitan or over-the-road bus driver; a rail operator, school bus driver, or attendant; a paratransit or ferry operator; a mechanic, or any other kind of maintenance worker, you have one of the most difficult and responsible jobs on the planet. This issue of In Transit is devoted to the health and safety problems that afflict transit workers. We present this information in the hope that increased awareness will lead to healthful changes in members’ lives, and in the contracts negotiated to protect them from illness and injury.
adequate time for bathroom breaks, barriers that protect operators from assault, action to clean the air we breath, and equipment to reduce the jarring vibration drivers experience on the road. In 2015, the Union was also successful in having language included in the U.S. Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requiring the federal government to study and issue new rules concerning driver assault; to conduct a federal review of blind spots on buses, and on the time and access provided operators to use restroom facilities.
Absenteeism ATU working for health, safety In 2015, our Canadian members successfully passed Bill S-221, which amended the Canadian Criminal Code to permit judges to give longer sentences to those convicted of assaulting transit workers.
Transit managements continually complain about transit workers’ high rate of absenteeism, yet they rarely take an honest look at the reasons behind the numbers. The median number of days away from work because of a workplace injury or illness reported to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) “for bus drivers in state and local government was 20 days in 2011, 22 days in 2012, and 18 days in 2013 – over twice as long as the median of nine days for all state and local government workers, unchanged from 2011 to 2013. “Although only eight percent of injury and illnesses cases with days away from work were the result of violent events in 2011, they were the most severe – requiring a median of 64 days away from work in 2011. Alternatively, in 2012, the event categories – falls, slips, and trips, and overexertion and bodily reaction – both had a median of 47 days away from work. In 2013, the most severe event leading to days away from work was exposure to harmful substances or environments, with 65 median days away from work.”
In addition, Locals in Canada and the United States have been pressing for route scheduling that provides
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Violent incidents In 2015, BLS reported that “Among violent events leading to injuries or illnesses to bus drivers from 2011 to 2013, the majority of cases resulted in traumatic injuries and disorders. Traumatic injuries include sprains, strains, tears, surface wounds, bruises, and contusions. “In 2011, nearly 19 percent of violent event cases resulted in mental disorders or syndromes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety. Workers suffering from mental disorders or syndromes experienced a median of four days away from work in 2011.
High risk According to a 2011 report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) transit work is one of the top three jobs in which workers face the highest risk of contracting 10 common diseases. Alarmingly, NIOSH found that 41.5% of transit workers had hypertension (high blood pressure) which can lead to heart attacks and strokes, compared to 27.6% for all the workers studied.
“In 2012, 11 percent of violent events led to a mental disorder or syndrome, which caused affected workers to miss a median of 32 days of work. In 2013, fewer injuries and illnesses occurred from violent events than in 2012, and of those cases, 20 cases, or seven percent, resulted in a mental disorder.”
Fatal injuries The BLS reported that “since 2003, the number of fatal injuries in urban transit systems has fluctuated, never falling below eight fatal injuries annually and spiking to 13 fatal injuries in both 2004 and 2005.
For a range of chronic diseases such as low back pain, asthma, depression, and diabetes (see graphic, above), drivers’ rates were 120% higher than the average of all other workers studied.
A sedentary job Long periods of sitting is one of the culprits contributing to bus driver health problems, according to a 2016 study published by Loughborough University in England. The British researchers determined that bus drivers were sedentary for more than 12 hours a day on workdays and nearly nine hours a day on non-workdays. During workdays, the drivers sat for up to three hours longer than the office workers in the study. Nearly threequarters of the bus drivers studied were overweight or obese. Overall, transportation workers had the lowest “well-being” scores of the occupations studied by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index in 2012.
“Of all fatal injuries in the urban transit systems industry, 60 percent (or 49 cases) resulted from transportation accidents. Also, 28 of the 49 fatal injuries precipitated by a transportation accident were not highway collisions but were cases in which the worker was struck by a vehicle in a parking lot or non-roadway. The second most common cause of a fatal work injury, with 17 percent, was the assaults and violent acts category. Falls accounted for 10 percent, or eight cases, of fatal workplace injuries in urban transit systems.” IN TRANSIT
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Maintenance Recent tragedies such as the November 2014 accident that killed mechanic Jake Schwab, 568-Erie, PA, have drawn attention to the unsafe conditions at garages across the U.S. and Canada. Brother Schwab died after the engine he was working on exploded in his face. The 27-year veteran Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority mechanic was working with the wrong tools on an unfamiliar bus from another agency in a garage that workers said had no safety culture. This prompted the introduction of the Jake Schwab Worker’s Safety Bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that would extend safety protections of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to the state’s public employees not currently covered by OSHA. Pennsylvania, however, has so far turned its back on these vulnerable employees.
Air pollution Air pollution is a constant plague in garages where old ventilation systems just don’t provide the amount of clean fresh air required for a healthy work environment. The way air pollutants lead to asthma, lung cancer, and, recently, heart disease is well known. But a new study published in January now claims that breathing polluted air over time can harm the brain, accelerating cognitive aging, and even increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Health and safety committees are supposed to address these issues at transit agencies. Unfortunately, too many of them are inactive, or woefully ineffective, and some properties don’t bother to have them at all.
FAST Act and Training One of the chief complaints of transit workers is that they don’t receive enough up-to-date training. Metro Magazine’s 2016 bus mechanic survey (see graph, right) reveals that a third of all of the transit agencies reporting said that they budgeted no money for mechanic training at all, and that only 47% provided 40 hours or less per year. No property responded that they provided over 80 hours of training per year. ATU successfully persuaded the U.S. Congress to insert a provision into the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015, that contains a long-overdue emphasis on transit workforce development for frontline employees.
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Aggressive safety culture is imperative Safety culture should not be an option at any workplace – it is an important necessity that is too often given “short shrift.” This has been the case for years on many light rail systems in which little regard for the safety has led to the deaths of track workers. Like much vilified government regulations, the safety rules in many workplaces sometimes seem silly, excessive, and expensive until someone is seriously hurt or dies. Lack of aggressively pursued, and continually updated safety procedures not only endangers transit workers, but their passengers as well. ATU will continue to fight for health and safety of its members. It’s actually the least transit systems can do for their employees. v
ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
A safe and secure workplace – a matter of life and death The tragic murder of bus driver Irvine “Jubal” Fraser, 1505-Winnipeg, MB, in February highlights why immediate changes are needed in bus driver compartment design. It’s the employer’s obligation to provide a safe and secure workplace, but that standard is not being met across North America.
C The typical North American design (B) looks like something out of “Mad Max.” The barrier (C) is an afterthought that cramps an operator’s movements, badly distorts vision, causes hazardous reflections, is too small to provide real security, and visually defines the bus as a violent place.
A Safe and comfortable driver’s workstations do exist, but they require a bit of competent engineering. A good example is the European bus (A). It has a comfortable arm rest when open. At the touch of a button the security window forcefully rises to block any attack. When closed, it does not block sightlines. Powered operation helps prevent rotator cuff and other injuries caused by the swinging or sliding motions required by the designs common in North America.
Reflections and distortions
B
There are, also, no reflections or distortions hampering the view. A/C and heating are designed to supply fresh filtered air for thermal comfort and a healthful environment. This is safety by design that protects security and health from the ground up.
D In (D), you see another North American shield that is a total failure. What is real in this driver’s view? Who will be blamed when the inevitable happens? It will be the driver, who “clearly” did not scan the scene. It also provides no real protection from incidents like the assault that took the life of Irvine “Jubal” Fraser. v
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Driver assault Almost 50 years ago, members of Locals 689-Washington, DC, and 1300-Baltimore, MD, were killed during robberies on their buses. The Locals’ members subsequently refused to go back to work until fare systems were installed that didn’t require them to carry large sums of cash. Not long after that, virtually all public transit agencies switched to exact fare systems, and attacks on operators subsided.
Assault still chief health and safety concern That remained the case until the 1990s when attacks on bus drivers started increasing again. However, these attacks were different. Now drivers were being assaulted because of fare disputes, the incomprehensible actions of the mentally ill, or the malicious plans made to hurt a bus driver for no discernable reason.
against unruly passengers. But for the most part operators quietly endure the frustration and humiliation caused by abusive riders. In fact, assaults such as cursing and spitting have become so commonplace that many operators don’t bother to report them.
Fare disputes Transit agencies and their drivers know that fare disputes instigate most of the battles between operators and passengers. As a result, many transit systems advise their employees not to confront a passenger who presents an expired transfer, who doesn’t pay enough, or who pays no fare at all. Local presidents often assert that bus operators are not police. Not only is it not their job to enforce the law, it’s dangerous.
Bus operators have been under siege ever since, and today, it is not at all unusual to hear about a driver being verbally abused, spat upon, or beaten up on the job. Tragically, there have also been incidents in which members have been stabbed, shot, and even killed on their runs.
Despite efforts in both of our countries to counter this disturbing trend, assaults continue. It remains the chief health and safety concern of bus operators throughout Canada and the United States.
Bus operators know they are particularly vulnerable to assault. Incredibly they have even been disciplined for leaving their seats to protect themselves and their riders from an assailant.
Another attack in Edmonton Just days before this article was written a member of Local 569-Edmonton, AB, was punched, cut, and bitten in a vicious attack arising from a dispute over an expired transfer. The alleged assailant broke the door of the driver’s compartment during the attack and hit him in the face with its jagged edge. The driver was released from the hospital after receiving 10 – 15 stitches. This is the first time In Transit has reported that a barrier, which is meant to protect drivers, has been broken and used as a weapon in an assault.
Understandably, drivers experience intense emotions as a result of these attacks that will sometimes erupt in rage
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ATU fighting to protect members ATU Locals have fought to eliminate incidents like this through contract negotiations that have increased on-board police protection, installed emergency radio systems and security cameras, and created retrofitted barriers on buses that should protect drivers from abusive and violent passengers.
that they pay a tax just to take a ride, when those with good jobs drive cars whenever and wherever they want.
What can be done? Driver assault has been characterized as “transit terrorism” and it certainly has that effect on drivers. The threat of physical harm is obvious. Less obvious is the continual stress that the threat creates, and the emotional scars that take longer to heal after an assault. Some properties have employee assistance programs which offer counseling to workers who have been assaulted. This is often more valuable to a victim of violence than he or she knows immediately after they are attacked. Yet, even with counseling, some drivers never drive a bus again.
In addition, ATU was successful in getting a provision making driver assault a felony added to the U.S. Patriot Act in 2001. And after a tireless, multi-year campaign by Canadian members, a law increasing penalties for driver assault (S-221) passed Parliament in 2014. But laws are only effective if they are enforced, and it has been a struggle to get jurisdictions to use these laws to prosecute transit criminals. Previously, drivers were reluctant to agree to the installation of security cameras and barriers on buses. Operators have good reason to be suspicious that security camera video will be used for disciplinary purposes. And barriers can eliminate one of the things drivers find most enjoyable about their job – interaction with the public. Barriers that are being put in place now often provide drivers with the option of opening up at least part of their enclosure. Security cameras will soon be universal on all transit vehicles, and local officers will have to be vigilant in making sure that these devises are not used to spy on employees.
Preventing assault before it starts The problem with most security devices is that they don’t prevent attacks from happening in the first place. Assailants have so far paid little attention to the presence of security cameras, and are probably unaware of the increased penalties for their crimes. Perhaps the most effective way of preventing driver assault is having transit police on most buses in a system. This, however, is very rare, given the cost of maintaining such a large force. A second, less well-known tactic, called “nonviolent crisis intervention” puts the security burden on the driver who employs strategies to defuse crisis situations. Local 107-Hamilton, ON, has produced a video demonstrating techniques that anyone, regardless of strength or ability can use to protect themselves and their passengers. Go to: https://youtu.be/h_CyNMNOuJE ATU will continue to demand that agencies do all they can to keep our members safe. It will take sustained effort, and additional funding to get to the point where operators no longer have to do their jobs in fear every day. So, we will continue to fight for the safety of our members. We have no choice. v
The economic challenge It has been observed that irrational attacks on our members increased greatly after the 2008 recession. It seemed that people were boarding buses with the sole purpose of attacking drivers. Most people in the transit industry were left scratching their heads, asking the question, “Why?” International President Larry Hanley thinks he has the answer. People who have been driven into poverty by economic forces beyond their control, are, he says, taking out their rage on uniformed drivers who, on top of everything else, demand IN TRANSIT
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Death by design LACK OF SAFETY REGULATIONS AND CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE Tragically, large numbers of pedestrians and drivers continue to pay the price for unsafe bus designs. The two buses below were involved in recent pedestrian accidents. In both photos, drivers are at the wheel. We can’t see in and they can’t see out:
Fatal blind spots For the driver of an MCI motor coach, (left) the police investigator immediately understood why a young woman in Providence, RI, was killed in a crosswalk; the view from the left window is walled off by the left pillar and mirror. Police recommended against serious charges and the driver was put back to work. Although ATU offered engineering solutions, the company did nothing and faced no criminal charges like the driver. In a Palm Springs bus (above, right), the blind spot measures 1.7 feet wide across the pillar/mirror and is only 2.8 feet from the driver’s eyes. In this case, the agency also failed to move the mirror below the driver’s sight lines, despite ATU recommendations for a safe design.
Danger on the right At the right, we see the blind angles from above in a bus still in use on our roads. The most frequently lethal problems
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are on the left but there are a stunning number on the right as well. There is no possibility that these can all be overcome from the driver’s seat, There are easy solutions for all these, but in North America, Transit has historically been selfregulating for these kinds of issues. Cheap construction is the priority, with little meaningful attention paid to safety. The results are unambiguous. With deregulation being a political goal, this kind of hazard will increase as decision makers are further divorced from the costs of their actions.
Easy Solutions and moral imperative In previous editions, we have shown that unobstructed vision is simple with an example from over a half-century ago - the aptly nicknamed “fishbowl” view. Today, specify a bus from VanHoole as they did in Oakland, CA, and excellent driver vision can save dozens of lives per year. In contrast, look again at the common designs above and the grief they guarantee. What would you call the next inevitable fatality caused by these blind spots, when management and manufacturers have solutions available? Needlessly costing even one life is tantamount to murder. v
ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
The air we breath ‘WARNING: TOXIC FUMES!’ Ever smell diesel fumes on your bus or leave work with a headache, nausea, or cough? Passengers, the public and employees are regularly exposed to toxic fumes on or near buses. Grim proof has come from NIOSH (the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health), who found that bus drivers have nearly twice the normal rate of COPD, a progressive and terminal disorder of the lungs. The reasons are clear (unlike the air).
Solutions? Like so many of the problems in transit, safety begins with engineering and the solutions are obvious. Rational location of intakes and exhausts is the bare minimum. Effective sealing of the engine compartment, as in cars, should be mandatory, but it is not. Proper maintenance of the engines, diesel particulate filters, and heaters can also reduce the problem. Electric water heaters can completely eliminate that serious source of carcinogens and hazardous particulates. It is an engineering and procurement failure when passenger air intakes are in the dirtiest airstreams, sucking in diesel exhaust from behind at the top and road debris from below in the front.
A “fresh air” intake under the bus gathers dust and exhaust from other vehicles on the road.
Just behind the front bumper, and inches off our dusty roads, is a common intake for occupants, as seen above. While the engine breathes extremely fresh air through roof intakes and filters that are 99.99% efficient, this filter for passengers and employees is only a bit of coarse wire screen that won’t keep anything out aside from rodents, stray dogs and sizeable chunks of debris. The other air intake for passengers is often too close to the engine exhaust. Toxic byproducts of “regeneration” in the diesel particulate filter also flow from this outlet.
Exhaust and soot
Riders and employees deserve to breathe air as fresh and well-filtered as what goes into the engine. That is the moral choice and the managerially competent one. No one is served by saving a few pennies on filters and good design when the cost is extreme rates of respiratory illness, cancer and other diseases. Unsafe air quality is not only a problem on buses, it also plagues garages and rail facilities. All these cases have been allowed to persist because we lack meaningful indoor air quality standards. Manufacturers and agencies have been free to save a few dollars in their budgets while immorally forcing others to pay the real cost with their health and lost years of life. We need to continue exposing these cynical decisions both to protect lives and prove that without strong unions, both the public and employees will be at substantially greater risk of serious harm. v
Exhaust from the filthy diesel-fueled water heater, common in colder climates, also gets sucked into the “fresh air” inlet, under a typically leaky hatch covered by the back seat. In buses, heaters often leave piles of soot under the back bumper. That exhaust flows up and into the HVAC and leaks through firewalls. IN TRANSIT
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Neglect of maintenance a danger to everyone Poor or neglected maintenance is a problem at many transit systems throughout North America. Maintenance is one of the first areas to get cut when agencies cut their budgets. And the problem has gotten worse as privatization has become more prevalent endangering transit workers, passengers, and pedestrians, alike. The most recent examples that mirror the problems at transit agencies all over Canada and the U.S. have occurred in Washington, DC, where Locals 689 and 1764 have been fighting to get their managements to adopt genuine safety cultures for a long time.
Local decided to do their own safety audit. In the case of Local 1764’s Circulator drivers, sustained political pressure over time resulted in a great improvement in maintenance as well as the wages of its members.
announced that it was going to release the results of its audit, DDOT rushed to release its own, and the results of both were shocking – fully 95% of Circulator buses were unfit to be on the road. Local 689’s proactive work was enough to push First Transit (the contract management of the system) to perform the maintenance that the buses had needed for some time. In the process, the DC government decided that Circulator drivers deserved wages comparable to their brothers and sisters operating the Metro’s bus and subway system – an increase of $8.00 an hour!
DC track tragedy There is another transit problem in Washington that can also be found on light rail and subway systems across our countries. Track maintenance had been neglected for a long time because of what has been called Metro’s “rush-rush” track program.
Washington, DC Circulator bus.
ATU drivers had known for a long time that the Circulator buses that operate in a loop throughout downtown Washington were not in good shape. They also knew that the District Department of Transportation had performed a safety audit of the fleet. But, despite the Local’s repeated requests DDOT refused to release their findings. Frustrated, Local 689 members decided to perform their own safety audit in August 2015. When the Local
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2006 DC Metrorail crash that killed a Local 689 member and eight others, and injuring 80.
On Monday, June 22, 2006, at 4:57 p.m., Metro Train 112, traveling south on the Red Line barreled into another stationary train that was waiting for the goahead to enter the Fort Totten Station in Washington, DC. Operator Jeanice McMillan, 689, and eight others were killed and 80 injured in the crash that shook
the metropolitan area’s confidence in the light rail/ subway system.
sections of track are closed for weeks at a time to perform the maintenance that had been deferred for so long.
Four years later, on July 27, 2010, NTSB issued the final report on its investigation of the tragedy. It blamed a faulty track circuit – part of the system’s automatic control system – that failed to notify the moving train behind it that a train was there. Metro announced a series of actions that it would take to correct the problem that turned up in other parts of the system. But, despite continual calls by Local 689 for a real safety culture, Metro didn’t seem to learn its lesson. NTSB Chair Christopher Hart said, “When we did Fort Totten, we didn’t see safety anywhere. We didn’t see safety committees. We didn’t see safety reports to the board. We didn’t see safety culture as part of the equation anywhere.”
Smoke incidents lead to Safe Track program Fifteen passengers and workers lost their lives between the time of the Fort Totten crash and January 12, 2015, when a passenger died in a smoke incident on the Yellow Line south of the L’Enfant Plaza Station. Metro, it turned out, was still trying complete work on the 2010 safety recommendations in 2015.
That program continues today, with the grudging acceptance of commuters who are glad that Metro is finally addressing the problem. However, the Metro system has taken a “hit,” losing ridership and fare revenue from former patrons who have found more expensive, but quicker, easier, and maybe safer ways to work than Metro currently provides. Track workers are at risk as well when safety lapses occur. New safety procedures were instituted at two agencies after track workers were struck and killed by a TTC train in Toronto in 2012, and a BART train in 2013.
ATU – almost always lone voice for safety Lack of proper maintenance is a “hidden” transit issue that doesn’t receive much attention until someone is hurt or killed. It threatens the safety of our members and their passengers, and undermines the confidence of riders that a transit system can deliver them where they need to go safely and on time. In almost every instance, ATU is the first, lone voice pushing agencies to do something. As we have painfully learned, it is a matter of life and death. v Still, Metro didn’t seem to take the DC Local’s calls for action seriously. Another, less serious smoke incident on March 16, 2016, convinced new General Manager Paul Wiedefeld to shutter the entire Metro system for emergency power cable inspections – and they found a lot of long ignored problems. It was only then that Metro really seemed to recognize that they had to take concerted action. Wiedefeld established a new Safe Track program in which large IN TRANSIT
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Bathroom breaks become issue as computers take over scheduling On December 4, 2015, the U.S. Congress passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The bill includes a provision ATU fought for, requiring a federal safety review of the time and access provided operators to use restrooms. The legislation was the latest success in an ATU campaign that began late in 2010, and continues today. Prompted by ATU, the Transportation Learning Center convened the Bus Operator National Joint Training Standards Committee in 2011, which adopted operator restroom use policies as a top priority.
Disciplined for using bathroom In April 2012, a Local 1572-Mississauga, ON, member was suspended for five days for taking a restroom break during his run. The driver had to wait in line for seven minutes behind two other operators at the single washroom provided, and spent another seven minutes in the restroom itself. A passenger complained, saying the driver failed to explain the holdup.
said the Canadian Council, adding “this issue also engages basic human dignity.”
2012 Study In January 2012, the Transportation Learning Center published a study for Local 1005-Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, that found that inadequate bathroom breaks negatively impact both Labor and management: Failing to allow transit operators to use the restroom when needed can cause… an increase in agency health insurance premiums, absenteeism, low worker morale and high turnover. To remain healthy and effective… transit operators should have the ability and the authority to use restroom facilities whenever they need to, without the stress of worrying about maintaining their route schedule.
2014 Testimony At a 2014 hearing, International President Larry Hanley told the U.S. House Transportation Committee: “Tight computer-generated schedules and increased traffic congestion have created shifts in which no time is available to use the restroom. As a result, bus operators restrict their fluid intake, starving internal organs, leading to a whole host of health problems.”
Armed with the information the International was assembling, the Local filed a grievance, calling it an invasion of privacy to force a driver to reveal his physical condition. “This is a national issue which affects the health and safety of both our countrys’ bus drivers, and the public at large,”
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Hanley also noted that recent studies found that the discomfort and stress of “holding it in” makes it more difficult to operate a vehicle safely. One study even found that not responding to an extreme urge to urinate affected attention and thinking equal to that of driving while impaired.
Availability Operators are now speaking up – not only about having little or no time to use a restroom – but also about the lack of clean, safe facilities. On February 9, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Local 241 operators (see picture, below) held a protest demanding that CTA build proper bathrooms along their routes, and do away with “port-a-potties.”
as a pastor, finds it immoral,” adding, “The fact that this is being negotiated at the bargaining table is absolutely absurd and an insult.”
Washington state fines King County Metro Locals may sometime have recourse to the law if negotiations fail. In November 2014, as the result of a complaint by Local 587-Seattle, WA, King County Metro Transit was ordered to pay a $3,500 fine for failing to provide bus drivers enough places – or time – to use the restroom.
The portable toilets are “nasty, cold, dark, unsafe, and unsanitary” says Local President Tommy Sams. “Drivers decide not to relieve themselves, and even in a few cases they have resorted to wearing diapers.”
‘Absolute disrespect’ Local President Ken Franklin, 308-Chicago, IL, says, “Transit workers are of one the most likely groups of workers to be affected by restroom access. The CTA answers this by absolutely disrespecting us. My sisters and brothers who operate our buses deserve better.”
King County “did not provide transit operators with unrestricted access to bathroom facilities when needed to relieve themselves,” said the citation. The property was also ordered to fix the problem.
Locals must still fight In December 2015, ATU produced the video, Bus Driver Bathroom Breaks are a Matter of Human Dignity and Decency, that asserts that bathroom breaks are a human right that should be acknowledged by all transit agencies. That was the same month the FAST Act was passed with a provision requiring the federal government to study the problem. CTA Bus Drivers hold protest to demand better bathroom conditions, February 9, in Chicago. – photo by WBBM/Mike Krauser
“The current portable bathrooms” says Sams, “don’t even have running water or heat, and often the hand sanitizer is empty or broken. This is an absolute disrespect to the workers...”
Encouraging as the FAST Act study may be, Locals still need to fight for language in their collective bargaining agreements or pursue legal remedies to guarantee that their members have the basic human right to use a clean and safe restroom, and that those restrooms be reasonably available whenever they need them. v
Reverend C.J. Hawking who spoke at the protest, says that as a woman, she “finds the conditions to be outrageous and IN TRANSIT
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Operators suffer higher rates of stress, depression Anyone who has driven up to 20 tons of metal loaded with precious human cargo through busy urban streets knows stress. It is a basic part of the job that most professional drivers cope with quite well.
Industries with the highest rates of depression
But every operator knows that the normal pressures of the job are just the beginning of what a driver has to worry about. In addition to avoiding preventable accidents, drivers live with the constant threat of assault, and the fear of accidentally hitting a pedestrian, impossibly tight schedules, lack of time for bathroom breaks, and unruly passengers.
Stress takes a physical toll All of these burdens can push the stress of a bus driver up to an unhealthy level. Eric Jaffe, writing for CityLab for the Atlantic, in 2012, reports, “Half a century of medical research has determined that the demands of driving a city bus result in a variety of physical (notably heart disease and back pain), mental (anxiety and depression), and behavioral (substance abuse) health problems. A British review of this work from a few years ago concluded that ‘poor wellbeing in drivers is part and parcel of the job.’” In Bus drivers: Occupational stress and stress prevention published by the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, Professor M.A. J. Kompier writes, that numerous studies of bus drivers are fairly similar in their conclusions as to the factors that create the stress that impact operators’ coping capacity. He observes, “Driving a bus was shown to be an occupation with high risks for health and wellbeing.
Depression All of this stress easily leads to depression. A 2014 study of 214,000 western Pennsylvanians found that driving a bus was the most stressful of all occupations (see graph, above).
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The ILO study recommendations to reduce the stress of bus drivers cover several main areas: “Timetables, shift schedules and the quality of break periods:… the main recommendations are: the organization of work for several consecutive days on the same shift (rather than changing shifts every day), combined with the forward rotation of shifts (early shift. followed by day shift, followed by late shift); the avoidance of split shifts; regular assignments rather than day-to-day assignments; and the organization of two days off, rather than single days off, between blocks of working days. “Social work environment and management style: Supervisors and management should be trained in a supportive style of leadership, which should include a proper information flow and clear explanations as to why certain things are or are not possible. Possibilities should be provided for training and retraining, and special facilities should be provided for older drivers and drivers with health problems...” v
ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Coping with PTSD In November 2013, a future president of the United States rewarded Darnell Barton, 1342-Buffalo, NY, with a check for $10,000 for preventing the suicide of a woman he noticed about to jump off a bridge while driving his route. Donald Trump wrote the driver saying: “Your quick thinking resulted in a life being saved and for that you should be rewarded.” In December, last year, in Guelph, ON, Operator Celine Renaud, 1189-Guelph, ON, noticed something wasn’t right with a young woman who boarded her bus. Renaud engaged the woman in conversation who said she wanted to kill herself. The driver radioed her supervisor and comforted the woman until help arrived.
Many operators traumatized by suicide attempts We hear these heart-warming stories about our members almost every week. But, we know that there are many more suicide attempts that happen in front of operators that don’t turn out well at all. Naturally, operator emotions run high when these gruesome events unfold before their eyes. It’s not uncommon for them to have “post traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) – and sometimes never operate a transit vehicle again. Perhaps, even more drivers experience PTSD as the result of being assaulted, or witnessing an assault. A study of Montreal operators was conducted in 1996, to investigate the problem. The authors of Prevalence of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder in Bus Drivers found: • A little more than a third of bus drivers reported a traumatic event at work. • Nine out of 100 drivers exposed to a traumatic event at work suffered a PTSD. • Serious threats and assault constitute the majority of these events.
Workers compensation In 2016, the Province of Manitoba began providing workers compensation for all employees who miss work due to PTSD.
The new rules ensure that traumatized operators will have timely access to compensation and support services. Beyond compensation and counseling, Locals are asking for training to know what to do when these things happen. An incident at a Maryland Metro Station prompted Local 689-Washington, DC, to call for a review of how the system responds to suicide. It was on Christmas Day that Shop Steward Dion Baker heard a desperate call from an operator reporting that someone had just jumped in front of his train. The operator’s shock and heart wrenching pleas for help were heard over the dispatch system. The jumper was pulled from under the train and survived due to the quick action by the operator. But that didn’t mean the experience was over for the operator who may be plagued by the memory for a long time.
Training “We’ve been pushing for more training for situations like this. They [Local 689 members] need more training and more help,” says Baker. Training can be effective in preventing suicide says Tim Jansen, a counselor who operates a local suicide prevention hotline. “If you learn to stop and just say ‘Hey, how’s it going?’,” he says, that can lead to them making different decisions.” Just as commuters are urged “if you see something, say something,” Jansen encourages train riders to alert transit employees about people who may be troubled. v IN TRANSIT
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EM active seats hold promise of reducing musculoskeletal disorders They call it a musculoskeletal disorder, but most operators recognize it as the pain they endure because they are bus drivers. Efforts have been made over the years to develop driver seats that reliably cushion drivers from the pounding they receive while driving – something medical researchers call “whole body vibration” (WBV).
and seat cushions can affect exposure to whole body vibration. Research has shown that whole body vibration contributes to musculoskeletal disorders and other negative health effects including cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, nervous and urological disorders. The study found that low-floor buses had less vibration on streets with speed bumps than high-floor buses. They also found that brand new air-suspension seats only reduced 10% of the floor vibration in buses.
Electromagnetically active technology The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, reported in 2015 on a new seat technology – electromagnetically (EM) active technology – that incorporates a microprocessor-controlled actuator to dampen vibration. The article recounted that EM technology reduced WBV exposures by 39-44% relative to the air-ride bus seat, depending upon subject weight and road type, but that “additional field research is needed… in a real-world bus environment.”
These problems have been studied over the last 30 years, but significant improvements in seat design have been elusive. The U.S. Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported last October that musculoskeletal disorders accounted for 23% of all injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work for bus drivers in 2014.
Whole body vibration NIOSH explained the problem this way: Whole body vibration occurs as a vehicle travels over roads and the vibrations are transferred through the floor of the vehicle or seat into the driver’s legs and spine. Vehicle design, and type of driver seat including suspension
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Transit agencies have traditionally resisted spending money on new seats even when it has been clearly demonstrated that the cost of sick leave and workers compensation is much greater than providing workers with safer seats.
Stretching helps Exercise can help reduce the effects of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). A 2014 study, Effects of Self Stretching on Pain and Musculoskeletal Symptom of Bus Drivers, found: Regular stretching exercise can reduce and prevent the symptoms of MSDS. Stretching is known to be an effective and simple exercise which increases flexibility. ATU will continue to press for ergonomic protections that will improve the health and wellbeing of our members on and off the job. v
ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Diet, exercise so important for transit operators If, as they say, “sitting is the new smoking,” then Americans and Canadians who work in sedentary occupations have a lot to worry about. This is no more true than it is among transit operators who are required to remain in a seated position for most of their working lives. Everyone knows how important diet and exercise are to a long, happy, and healthy life. But, we also know how difficult it can be to change the bad habits we have lapsed into over a lifetime.
work [split-shift, long work hours; prolonged sedentary work, time pressure, low decision authority, and poor social relationships with coworkers, supervisors, and customers]. Additional stressful working conditions (e.g., violence from passengers; threat-avoidance vigilance; traffic and road conditions; work and family conflict; mechanical problems; poor safety climate; and labor-management relationship) may contribute to increasing the risk for obesity among bus drivers.
Highest obesity rate In 2012, the Gallop organization revealed that transportation workers had a 36% obesity rate – the highest of 14 occupation groups, based on interviews with over 139,000 American workers. And, in 2013, Gallop reported: Transportation workers have the thirdhighest smoking rate among the occupations measured, results that are congruent with their less frequent exercise habits and lower levels of produce consumption. This combination puts transportation workers at the highest risk for developing chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and makes them more susceptible to cancer than workers in other occupations.
Exercise As we all know, improving our diet, and increasing exercise are the two things we must do to combat weight gain and improve our overall health. Some transit properties have supported healthier lifestyles with wellness programs that help their workers move more and eat better. Ultimately, however, the responsibility is ours. We can improve our lives immeasurably, if we pay attention to our health. v
Psychosocial factors In 2014, the Center for Social Epidemiology discovered “Bus drivers along with other motor vehicle operators were the first and second rank in prevalence of obesity among 41 male and female occupational groups in the United States.” This study also found some surprising factors that may lead to bus driver obesity: There is emerging evidence that several adverse psychosocial working conditions can increase the risk for obesity… (e.g., shift IN TRANSIT
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ATU HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT
Driver fatigue: scourge of OTR operators Deregulation of the interstate bus industry in the 1980s ushered in an era when almost anyone with a bus could open up their own over-the-road (OTR) transportation operation in the United States. Today, it’s estimated that there are over 3,000 small OTR companies operating across North America – far more than the federal government can adequately monitor for safety.
A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is the latest to confirm these findings, reporting that drivers who miss between one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period nearly double their risk for a crash. In fact, Dr. David Yang, executive director of the foundation, says, “Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk.”
Legislation needed ATU is campaigning for legislation which would ensure that drivers are paid fairly for the overtime work that they put in above 40 hours per week. Such a law would make it more difficult for OTR employers to push their drivers into working overtime, and reduce their need to work second part-time jobs during their rest periods.
Consequently, maintenance in these companies is often deferred, and hours-of-service regulations frequently ignored. Adding to the danger, a loophole in the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempts interstate motor coach operators from the requirement of paying overtime wages to their employees. Unsurprisingly, only a handful of these small companies’ employees are represented by ATU or any other union. The result is that many of these operators are overworked at less than a living wage. Many take on second part-time jobs during their “rest periods” just to make ends meet. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that there are a lot of fatigued bus drivers on North American highways endangering all of our lives.
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“Driving drowsy is dangerous and these underhanded bus companies are putting the public at serious risk by exploiting their drivers by paying them discount wages, with no overtime, leaving many sleep-deprived bus drivers behind the wheel on our nation’s highways,” says International President Larry Hanley. “Shouldn’t working a 15-hour day be enough to earn a living?” he asks. “It’s time for the government to close this outdated loophole and extend protections to bus drivers so they are fairly compensated for overtime, especially in this safety sensitive industry.” v
de ATU por la salud y la seguridad Este número de In Transit cubre una serie de temas de seguridad que afectan a los trabajadores del transporte público y autobuses escolares. Desde el día en que empezamos a trabajar en la industria, reparando o conduciendo vehículos, trabajando en estaciones o limpiando, nuestros cuerpos están expuestos a una gran cantidad de riesgos. El Sindicato Internacional, trabajando con y por medio de los Locales, está haciendo más que nunca para mantenernos sanos. Este número explora todo, desde los puntos ciegos diseñados que están matando a peatones y destruyendo las vidas y las carreras de los conductores, hasta el humo que entra en el autobús desde el tubo de escape trasero. ¿Huele esos humos?? Hablamos de la ergonomía de su asiento de conductor, del mantenimiento negligente, de los descansos para ir al baño, de la seguridad en las vías, de hacer frente a la depresión y el PTSD. También se revisarán la dieta, el ejercicio y la fatiga del conductor.
Muerte en Winnipeg El 14 de febrero, en Winnipeg, MB, el miembro del ATU y conductor de autobús Irvine J Fraser fue apuñalado a muerte por un joven pasajero. Esto nuevamente nos llama a exigir que nuestras agencias hagan todo lo posible para detener los asaltos a los trabajadores del transporte público. En los departamentos de mantenimiento, muchos mecánicos de ATU y limpiadores todavía trabajan en condiciones terribles. La muerte del mecánico del Local 568 Jake Schwab nos recuerda que no sólo los conductores enfrentan peligros mortales en el transporte público. Nuestros miembros de Pensilvania están trabajando en una campaña para conseguir que se apruebe una ley de seguridad.
Honrando a Jake Se insta a todos los miembros de PA a que pregunten a sus funcionarios locales cómo cada uno de nosotros puede hacer un poco para salvar a nuestros miembros y honrar a Jake. “Todos venimos aquí a trabajar -no venimos a morir”, dice Anne Feeney, la cantante de Labor. Así es, pero nadie nos salvará si no nos salvamos a nosotros mismos. Pongámonos a trabajar.
En 2013 creamos una unidad de Salud y Seguridad aquí en el Sindicato Internacional. Su trabajo es bien conocido por los funcionarios locales. Quiero que usted sepa que estamos trabajando todos los días para hacer que nuestros trabajos sean más saludables, seguros y satisfactorios.
Únase a nosotros Necesitamos que los Sindicatos Locales y miembros se unan a nosotros para escuchar esa llamada. Podemos arreglar esto, pero necesitamos una reconstrucción completa de la estación de trabajo del conductor para que los pasajeros no puedan llegar a nosotros, pero que también tenga un escudo que sea cómodo para el conductor. Los tienen en Europa. (Véase página 15). ¡Únase a nuestra campaña para exigir nuevas estaciones de trabajo ahora! ¡Pregunte en su reunión sindical si su Local está apuntado en la campaña!
Locales de todo Canadá vienen a la defensa de los miembros de Toronto Locales de todo Canadá vinieron a la defensa de los miembros del Local 113-Toronto, ON, en una conferencia de prensa tras el intento unilateral del ex presidente del Local Bob Kinnear de sacar a miembros del Sindicato en febrero. Estos son algunos de los comentarios hechos durante el evento: Paul Thorp, presidente de ATU Canadá: “Llamé a mis compañeros y compañeras”, dijo, “y la respuesta fue abrumadora. No dudaron en subir a aviones, trenes y coches para venir a representar al Local de ATU que tanto aprecian. “Ellos quieren que la gente entienda que esto nunca se trató de una ‘toma de posesión estadounidense’. Esto ha sido sobre la apuesta de una persona para destruir a una organización para su propia ganancia. Y me molesta. Me duele que esta persona que profesó su amor por esta organización tenga la audacia de decir las cosas que se han dicho “.
IN TRANSIT
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La presidenta del Local Margaret Gilbert, 1582-Niagara Falls, ON: “Me encanta este sindicato. Me encantan los miembros con los que trabajo, y me encanta mi trabajo como conductora de autobús por más de 20 años. ATU ha estado allí para mí en cada cosa que les hemos pedido... Han estado allí financieramente y en todas las maneras que hemos necesitado. Estas personas significan mucho para mí, y estoy orgullosa de estar aquí “. Jack Jackson, 1572-Mississauga, ON: “Me complace estar aquí hoy y expresar la preocupación que tengo y el hecho de que el Compañero Kinnear, y digo “compañero” de forma muy suelta, está tratando de pintar un cuadro de Canadá contra los Estados Unidos, y simplemente no es una imagen real .... “Es un día triste, pero lo bueno es que estamos aquí orgullosos, y quiero enviar un mensaje a nuestros compañeros y compañeras con los que compartimos una frontera en 113. Y quiero que sepan que 1582 está a su lado junto con cada Local de Canadá, y cada Local en los Estados Unidos, y al final de esto seguiremos en pie “. Manny Sforza, vicepresidente internacional: “Estamos aquí para proteger el interés de nuestros miembros. Tenemos apoyo, no solo aquí, sino como ustedes pueden ver, por todo este gran país. “Una persona no forma un sindicato. Bob Kinnear se alejó de nosotros. Él puede hacer lo que quiera, pero no nos representa. “Bob Kinnear tomó una decisión en su propio interés de dejar el sindicato, pero estamos aquí en pie por el mejor interés de usted - que es permanecer con ATU. Nuestros compañeros y compañeras están dedicados a los temas que más importan a los trabajadores del transporte público. Ese es nuestro único enfoque.
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January/February 2017 | IN TRANSIT
“Trabajadores del transporte público: el ATU somos todos nosotros. Somos los trabajadores del transporte público. Nos hemos alzado juntos en solidaridad durante 120 años “. “Tenemos a gente aquí de Saskatoon; tenemos a gente aquí de Regina; tenemos a gente aquí de Ontario; tenemos a gente aquí de Edmonton. No hubo ninguna duda. ‘’¿Qué necesitas Paul? ‘’, y ‘’ Vamos a estar ahí por ti ‘’ [dijeron] Ellos entienden que cuando dices ‘Un ATU’ que si te enfrentas a uno de nosotros, te enfrentas a todos nosotros. “ “Hoy en realidad es un día triste, porque en lugar de estar aquí hoy y hablar de los problemas que enfrentan los operadores de transporte público en el entorno laboral, estamos hablando del interés de un hombre porque perdió las elecciones en nuestra última conferencia internacional. La realidad es que la Internacional ha estado presentando muchas iniciativas para defender a los trabajadores del transporte público. Nosotros realmente somos los líderes en la industria. El presidente Hanley ha introducido cosas como iniciativas contra tiempos de ejecución poco realistas, asaltos a los conductores, puntos ciegos en el lugar de trabajo, descansos para ir al baño; estas son sólo algunas de las iniciativas que ha presentado la Internacional. Y no las presentaron en Canadá, ni en los Estados Unidos, sino que las presentaron en toda Norteamérica. Nunca le han negado nada a ningún local canadiense. El Presidente Hanley y la Internacional han estado desarrollando iniciativas de capacitación, de modo que los Locales más pequeños no tengan que volar a Washington para recibir la capacitación. De hecho, pueden obtener el entrenamiento en línea a través de video.
In Memoriam
Death Benefits Awarded November 1, 2016 - December 31, 2016 1- MEMBERS AT LARGE LEO C BEZDZIECKI DOUGLAS G STEPHENS 22- WORCESTER, MA GERALD E MURRAY RODRIGUE ROBERT 85- PITTSBURGH, PA ROBERT P BIERTEMPFEL JOSEPH T BOWLER DANIEL A CHASKY ROBERT ESSER ALBERT FAZIO KEVIN E HENRY ROBERT S KAPOLKA CHRISTOPHER T KELLY SAMUEL T LONGANECKER MARY P SULLIVAN EDWARD F WASKOWIAK 107- HAMILTON, ON ROBERT HANDLEY REBECCA L MERIGOLD ROBERT VANDEBILT 113- TORONTO, ON JAMES G BRAUN VINCENZO CASUTI JAMES E CLYKE ALBERT KARRELL CURRIE JAMES DALGARNO SAL FERMA LARRY E FLEAR WILLIAM FOREMAN PETER S GARBEL DAVID B HASON RUDOLF HOELZL DEREK HOWE THOMAS OLIVER HOYLES PETER KUIPER WILLIAM LOVE KENNETH N MARRIOTT JANET MC CLUNE JOHN B MC CULLOCH ALEXNADER MC DOWELL EDWIN MOHLMANN MICHAEL S MOODY ALAN D MUSSARD TONY J PRECOPI ROBERT RAMSAY JOSEPH SCOTT ANTHONY SEMINSKY JOHN JOSEPH SHILLOLO BRIAN K WARREN GARY J WATSON 192- OAKLAND, CA BIRGIT K BRUNO WALTER E HILL WILLIAM MURPHY 241- CHICAGO, IL MICHAEL A BROWN TERRY J CARROLL AARON W DIXON NOBLE GRAVES LEE A LUELLEN SR ISAAC MORALES RUFUS H MURRY
RHONDA ROBINSON CLAUDE R ROGERS MARY B SMITH WILLIAM J SMITH JESSE D WELLS 265- SAN JOSE, CA PETER M BRENNAN GARY K IDA DANE NEWBY
615- SASKATOON, SK JAROSLAW POGLOD 618- PROVIDENCE, RI KENNETH P MAGUIRE WILLIAM MC GEE RAYMOND G ROYAL JEREMIAH J WHITTREN
1015- SPOKANE, WA DAVID L BLUM GARY J COHEN JOHN J O’CONNELL 1039- LANSING, MI DEBRA A BURKE
425- HARTFORD, CT SYDNEY ATKINSON
713- MEMPHIS, TN ARTHUR AVANT AUDIE MATTHEWS GERALD G PARNELL
1056- FLUSHING, NY FRANK AGOSTINO WILLIAM P CASTELLON JOSEPH A FERETIC BEN GOLDSTEIN LINDA HAMPTON MELVIN HARRIS JR JAMES R HUTCHESON PAUL R IRVING JR CARLOS G JACKSON IRFAN KARIM ERNEST L MABRY THOMAS J MALEY MICHAEL R NICOLETTI JOSEPH PARETI ALFONSO R PRISCO JAMES M RICHARDSON ROBERT J ROBINSON PAUL R SCI GEORGE SIMMONS EDWARD SOWDEN EDWARD TORTOLANI PABLO O VEGA DAVID VIERA
443- STAMFORD, CT JAMES A PORTER
726- STATEN ISLAND, NY CIRO J MEZZACAPPA
1108- QUINCY, IL WALLACE H PARSON III
448- SPRINGFIELD, MA DANIEL JANICKI BENNY G TUCCI
732- ATLANTA, GA JOE D BANKS
1179- NEW YORK, NY GEORGE LYNCH
788- ST. LOUIS, MO FRANK L DONABY CLARENCE E VANOVER SAMUEL M WALLACE
1181- NEW YORK, NY MAMIE BATTAGLIA JOEL COOPER JOHN A FERRO EDWARD GOLDSTEIN ROCCO L GRIPPO FRANCIS HOURICAN REINA MARTINEZ JEAN S MICHEL JOSEPH SALVATO EDWARD STANFORD PATRICIA M TAYLOR
268- CLEVELAND, OH CHARLES A LANGSTON JEROME V RYBAR ERROL L WASHINGTON CARRIE WHITEHEAD 282- ROCHESTER, NY MICHAEL P HOLLER FRANK J RANDISE 308- CHICAGO, IL HELEN JENKINS BERNARD JOHNSON WANDA MC CORKELL ANNIE J MC GILL JOHN MEEHAN MICHAEL WALKER CLYDE WILLIAMS
569- EDMONTON, AB HANS W GINNUT NORMAN W GRAMMER 587- SEATTLE, WA PARNELL J COYLE BERNARD A FISCHER CURTIS H HICKS 588- REGINA, SK RAYMOND G POTH 589- BOSTON, MA CHARLES M BART THOMAS J CORMICAN BRIAN E DOHERTY JOSEPH M DUGGAN DOMINICK C GIUNTA JOHN F HOULIHAN WILLIAM J HOWARD PETER F MC DONOUGH PATRICK J MITCHELL JOHN G O’DONNELL JACQUES M PIERRE ARTHUR F SHEA 591- HULL, QC JEAN RENAUD
689- WASHINGTON, DC MARCO T ACEVEDO WILLIAM H ADAMS JANE E ANDERSON JOSE E AVELAR MICHAEL BELLINGER JOHN L COZNICK KENNETH D DANIELS KENZELL J EVANS BURCH L FOLSOM GERALD N GETER HUONG H HA GILBERT MC CORMICK HUBERT O PASCHAL BILLY WILLIAMS 704- LITTLE ROCK, AR CHARLES S WHITE
819- NEWARK, NJ ANTONIO ANDRIACCIO 820- UNION CITY, NJ FREDERICK DIETZEL JR 822- PATERSON, NJ DAVID M MAIDA 824- NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ WILLIAM J KNIPP 880- CAMDEN, NJ RAYMOND HOFKNECHT BETTE J MARASCO CAROL MURRAY 998- MILWAUKEE, WI LAVERNE BUCKLEY PAUL S VACHO 1005- MINNEAPOLIS & ST. PAUL, MN ARCH R DE MERY
1212- CHATTANOOGA, TN JOHN MC WHORTER 1235- NASHVILLE, TN CHARLIE J DIXON ROBERT H SLOAN DEVAH J TALLEY 1277- LOS ANGELES, CA JOHNNY V CALDITO JIM L DONAGHE LESLIE F DUBOISE LOC B NGUYEN JAIME H SIERRA 1287- KANSAS CITY, MO JOSEPH M EITEL GAYLORD D SALISBURY
IN TRANSIT
1300- BALTIMORE, MD HERMAN FRANKLIN DONALD P ROBEY 1309- SAN DIEGO, CA JAMES H GEORGE SR SHARON L HANSON PAMELA J LINDSAY DONALD E STEWART GLORIA VALDEZ CHARLES L WARNER 1320- PETERBOROUGH, ON JOHN CHIARELLI 1321- ALBANY & TROY, NY ROBERT W MC CAFFERTY THOMAS J WILLIAMS 1336- BRIDGEPORT, CT VERONICA UPCHURCH 1363- PROVIDENCE, RI JOHN A FERREIRA 1374- CALGARY, AB KENNETH JOHNSTON 1385- DAYTON, OH GEORGE PAYNE JODY W WEIDEL 1433- PHOENIX, AZ LARRY CLARK 1447- LOUISVILLE, KY EDWARD J HOBAN 1505- WINNIPEG, MB RONALD H ALEXANDER WILLIAM BELCHER MILFRED A DIETRICH NORMAN R HAMILTON JOHN R MUIR 1555- OAKLAND, CA LYDIA C LAPATING-YOUNG 1564- DETROIT, MI JOHN SMITH 1572- MISSISSAUGA, ON LAWRENCE BRYSON ROBERT J ELLIS RAY MELANSON BRIAN MENARY 1575- SAN RAFAEL, CA HUGH F REID 1578- LOWELL, MA CHERYL L HOUDE 1700- NORCROSS, GA RONNIE BROWN 1729- PITTSBURGH, PA DONALD SWYERS ANNA J VENTRICE
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ATU ONLINE TRAINING VIDEOS To better prepare all ATU members for the challenges and battles our Locals face, ATU International has launched new ATU Training Videos on the ATU website available to all members. These videos teach new strategies on how you can get involved with your Local, make your Local stronger, and build a more powerful ATU. All the videos are available at http://bit.ly/2lvQSmt. You can watch these videos anywhere and any time you want. Check them out today.