Transit workers on the front lines
While many Americans are cloistered inside their homes, transit workers are out there making sure that other essential workers can get to their jobs. But they often lack the masks or gloves they need to protect themselves from riders crowding onto buses and trains.
The situation is so dire that Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove took to Facebook to express anger about a passenger who coughed repeatedly on the bus without covering her mouth. A few days later, Hargrove fell ill and later died from COVID-19.
Thousands of transit workers have been infected and dozens have died from the fast-spreading disease, according to John Costa, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the largest labor union representing transit and allied workers in the U.S. and Canada.
Costa spoke with The Associated Press about the problem.
Members of your union have lost their lives to the coronavirus. How has this affected you?
It’s hitting home. This is not what we signed up for. We’re bus operators and maintenance, and we can’t work from home. It’s scary, and at the same time sad, that our members are trying to make a living and also provide a service that is essential, but not being provided the personal protective equipment that is needed.
Do transit workers have adequate personal protective equipment [PPE] such as masks and gloves?
You have the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] saying we don’t need masks, and now all of a sudden all of us should be wearing masks. It came too late, and I believe our operators have been overexposed. Your buses are overcrowded, you have some people are wearing masks, others aren’t, that’s exposure that our operators are getting more than everyone else.
Why are transit workers at greater risk?
We talk about social distance. There’s none on a bus. Even though we’re blocking off some of the seats behind the driver, there’s still overcrowding. Everybody is on top of each other. That should not be. Nobody should ride a bus without a mask at this point.
Are any members getting PPE from the federal government?
No. Many of our members, a lot of locals, went around and got what they could, and some of the locals provided their own equipment as far as gloves and masks to our members.
We’re recognizing grocery workers. We’re recognizing, rightfully so, the medical profession out there that’s doing a hell of a job risking their lives for us, and the police and fire, but nobody says nothing about the transit worker and the transportation guys that are out there moving the economy. Just remember them. They’re out there, they have families too, and you know what? We’re dying. Interviewed by Cathy Bussewitz. Edited for clarity and length.