Image Description: Photo of 5 PRT transit workers wearing their uniforms standing shoulder to shoulder in Ross Garage. Some are wearing orange safety vests. Photo was taken by PPT Board Member Sue. |
Our transit system is short 220+ workers and our scheduled service keeps getting cut. This Transit Worker Appreciation Day, join PPT in calling on our next Allegheny County Executive to build better public transit by addressing the worker crisis.
To restore and expand our transit system, we need PRT to better recruit and support our existing transit workers. Take action today, and send a tweet to tell the candidates running to be Allegheny County's next Executive that transit workers are the backbone of our system! |
Image Description: Photo of ATU Local 85's Executive Board posing for a photo in their union hall. Image has 19 people wearing matching PRT black shirts. A big ATU logo is in front of them on the carpet. |
New op-ed from the local Transit Union President, Ross Nicotero: PRT’s hiring and retention is a crisis that must be addressed now
"Several weeks ago, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) launched a public input process to overhaul the downtown bus network. This is the first portion of a system-wide transit network redesign, to ostensibly make our bus routes faster, more understandable and more effective in serving our riders’ needs. As transit workers, we’re certainly supportive of adjusting our routes to keep buses from getting stuck for ages in car traffic and to ensure that riders can reliably and quickly get to their destinations.
But it is difficult to talk about how PRT’s bus network redesign will improve the rider experience without talking about the catastrophic service cuts we’re simultaneously experiencing due to ongoing worker shortfalls and PRT’s implementation of its vaccine mandate. At this moment, the network redesign feels a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
[...] Here are five key ways that PRT can address these challenges head on: [...]" |
Image Description: image is a screencapture from PPT's new video |
BRAND NEW VIDEO TESTIMONIALS: Hear Pittsburgh transit workers talk about how bad scheduling and the worker crisis has impacted their jobs.
"When we have an issue and we're supposed to call for help, half the time [PRT Management] makes it seems like we're an inconvenience to them. The bus can be blowing out black smoke and they're like, 'just keep running with it'"
"My doctor told me, because I have a condition called Diverticulosis, you have to what you're supposed to do. You have to go to the restroom, and a lot of time management doesn't understand that. They don't understand that we older drivers have to take care of ourselves."
"Management don't come out and ride the bus with us. Let them come out and ride the bus with us to see what we go through everyday." |
