Frontline transit workers need protective personal protective equipment, strategic service levels that maximize social distancing, rear door boarding, pandemic leave and other measures to ensure we can safely transport essential workers to the front lines in this fight and protect our jobs and livelihoods throughout this crisis.

Transit workers have been working around the clock during this crisis to deliver critical transit for workers on the frontlines. ATU members are proud to carry emergency service, healthcare, grocery, and retail workers, and those who are seeking care.

Yet transit workers are being unnecessarily exposed to coronavirus, because transit agencies and private transit companies across North America have spent the last decade auditioning for “most cost effective” instead of preparing for crisis, ensuring a high standard of living for their employees, or focusing on providing safe service for workers and riders alike. Now, the consequences of their mismanagement are costing workers their lives.

We are demanding that transit agencies and private transit companies move quickly to implement ten Safe Service protections and policy changes that keep needed service running and our workers and riders safe, including, but not limited to:

1. Increased health and safety measures for transit workers and the riding public, including gloves, masks, sanitizers, and all PPE needed.
2. Pandemic leave for anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19, exposed to them, or with family or childcare obligations resulting from shutdowns.
3. Compensating workers classified as essential during a public health crisis with at least 1.5 times their normal wage.
4. Rear door entry and fare elimination to support social distancing.
5. Retaining employees and maintaining wages and benefits during service curtailment.
6. Strategic continuation of service to avoid overcrowding.
7. Limiting bus passenger loads to no more than 10 and paratransit to no more than 1.
8. Limiting service access to essential workers and those seeking care.
9. Requiring passengers to wear masks to board a transit vehicle.
10. Fully-paid, on-site testing of transit workers for COVID-19 symptoms.

Sign this petition to tell our employers we need to be protected!