DC Council Increases Metro Worker Safety

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Metro transit workers won a year-long fight to increase worker safety last Tuesday when the DC City Council passed a bill that “increased penalties for assaulting a Metro transit operator by 50 percent,” reported Taryn Luntz in last Wednesday’s Examiner. “This will protect not only the bus operators, but also the riding public, because when that happens to a bus operator, the public is in danger also,” ATU Local 689 President Jackie Jeter told Luntz. Local 689 – which represents Metro workers – was a strong supporter of the bill (Transit Workers Battle Assaults 9/20/07 UC). The Maryland General Assembly voted down similar legislation recently, but Jeter vowed to revive the measure in the future, Luntz reported.