Transit Union Says “Metro Must Commit Itself To a Safety Culture Now”

Amalgamated Transit Union president Jackie Jeter says Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has “woefully neglected its commitment to a safety culture” and called on the agency to take specific steps “to truly create a safety culture.” In a January 26 blog post, Jeter charged that WMATA leadership “continues to fail miserably” at cultivating an environment “where Metro employees feel empowered and welcome to identify accidents and potential hazards.”  photo by David Stephen

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Since the 2009 Red Line accident that killed 9, “Metro has failed to invest in the emergency training that all employees need on a consistent basis,” and WMATA operators, maintenance and clerical employees “have been discouraged from reporting unsafe conditions and even suspended.”  Jeter called on WMATA to reallocate resources to annually retrain the entire workforce for emergency preparedness, commit to more substantive safety programs, hold management to the same standards of emergency preparation as Local 689 members and reinstitute the Joint Labor/Management Safety Committee. “We live, work and care about this community because it is ours,” said Jeter. “We want safe, clean and reliable public transportation to keep this region moving forward in growth and ingenuity.”