Press Release: It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way

(Forestville, MD) September 10th, 2020 –  ATU Local 689 wants to remind the riding public and politicians that the worst case scenario can still be avoided if we move fast. Transit systems around the country are requesting emergency funding that could help prevent massive service cuts and layoffs. Political gridlock threatens to strand countless transit dependent riders across the country. 

Our members have been out on the frontlines of this crisis for months, helping to get other essential workers where they need to go. Hundreds of transit workers have passed away from COVID19. This is no way to thank those that helped keep this country moving while everyone else was in lockdown. We know firsthand that layoffs and service cuts have permanent impacts on the health of the transit system. Underinvestment in transit takes years to recover from. 

We will continue our fight for emergency funding while we prepare our members for whatever may come next. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 is comprised of more than 13,000 members and retirees performing occupations within the many skilled transportation crafts for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), MetroAccess, DASH, and the DC Streetcar. A member of the Amalgamated Transit Union (AFL-CIO/CLC), the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the United States and Canada, Local 689 was established on January 19, 1916. For more information please visit our website at atulocal689.org.