JOHN A. COSTA, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
An unthinkable tragedy On the morning of May 26th, I was on a zoom with the ATU Virginia State Legislative Conference Board talking about the upcoming Governor’s primary and the importance of the ATU being politically active when my phone started to buzz with multiple text messages and calls about a shooting at a rail yard in San Jose, CA. Our worst nightmare came true when I found out that the shooter killed nine of our brothers at Local 265-San Jose, CA. The rest of the day was a blur.
support they need to deal with this tragedy. We also met with the company about treating workers right and giving them the time they need to grieve.
I was finally able to reach Local 265 President John Courtney, who was there that day meeting with his members. It was difficult to hear him recount the unfathomable tragedy that unfolded in front of his eyes that day. We are all incredibly grateful that Brother Courtney survived this senseless act of violence.
There’s no script for this, but we are doing whatever we can to ensure everyone has the support they need and that this never happens again.
Knowing the gravity of this tragedy and the impact on Local 265 and our entire Union, the International took immediate action. We assembled and dispatched a crisis response team, including myself, International officers, and staff, to San Jose to support and address the needs of our Local 265 members and their families. Our crisis response team worked with Local 265, other unions, and local officials to coordinate assistance and ensure our members have access to the resources and
Local 265 and their Executive Board did tremendous work reaching out to the families of our brothers who passed. They communicated with them about unanswered questions they still had, explained their benefits, and offered their support and grief counseling.
Every time I listened to our members speak about the shootings, I could see the horror, the confusion, and the need for help to understand and get through this. That’s why days after the shooting, we held two town hall meetings to make sure members knew their Union is there and to have a safe space to voice their feelings about the tragedy. One thing we don’t want to hear anymore, though, is that we’re heroes. We’ve heard that for too long. We want to see action. We want to see our transit agencies and elected officials help with the mental health issues we have in the workplace. As I spoke at a memorial in July for our fallen brothers in San Jose, I wanted to send a clear message. We have to honor the lives of our lost brothers and not forget what has happened here. The VTA actually shut off the victims’ benefits for their families, which was a disgrace. We have to call out the failure of the VTA to learn from the tragedy. We can’t sweep it under the rug.
We can do better We need to do the right thing now, talk about mental
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April - May - June 2021 | IN TRANSIT
