Nearly ten percent of the bus drivers in Los Angeles called in sick on Friday, May 3, to protest the huge number of violent attacks on bus drivers that happen in the city and the infrequency with which the city brings the perpetrators of those attacks to justice. The goal of the protest was reportedly to push the city toward cracking down on the attackers.
As background, the sick-out came as the Metro and drivers fought over what security measures should be implemented. The Metro Board approved plexiglass barriers for the buses, but the bus operators want both stiffer sentences for the criminals who attack Metro drivers and armed guards on the buses to protect the drivers.
Issuing an alert to potential riders when the sick-out occurred on Friday morning, the Los Angeles Metro warned that there were likely going to be “significant delays” on certain Metro bus lines “due to staff shortages.”
Further, in a statement on the protest, the Metro said it understood their worries, saying, “Bus operators are the face of Metro to more than 80% of Metro riders. They are the lifeblood of the Metro organization. We understand their and their families’ fear in the face of the senseless assaults some have experienced primarily resulting from the twin crises of untreated mental illness and drug addiction.”
Continuing, it added, “We share their frustration and have expedited the installation of barriers to keep them safe, as well as the re-deployment of safety and security personnel on board buses to deter assaults. At the same time, we are working on longer term plans, which include the addition of even more dedicated transit security bus riding teams.”
It also begged its drivers to come back to work to help the “vulnerable,” saying, “However, transit riders throughout Los Angeles County depend on the Metro Bus and Rail network every day to reach critical destinations including work, school, and medical facilities, and to care for their friends and family members. We appeal to our operators to reconsider the impact their plan to call in sick will have on some of the most vulnerable people in the county.”
The statement also included an implicit threat, saying that the sick-out employees were in violation of their “Collective Bargaining Agreement.” It said, “Transit operators who intentionally plan to call in sick put our customers at risk. Further, it is a violation of Metro’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, so we hope they will reconsider.”
Tweeting about the sick-out and posting a video of the latest attack, the “End Wokeness” X account wrote, “360+ bus operators in LA called out sick on Friday, about 10% its total workforce. The drivers staged the sick-out to protest skyrocketing cases of [violence] with little accountability for the perpetrators. Yesterday, another driver was attacked.”
Watch the attack here:
The drivers returned back to work on Saturday, May 4, so the sick-out was short-lasting, but did cause enough of an inconvenience to be noticed. It remains to be seen if LA will start cracking down on criminals, or if the chaos will continue but with more plexiglass barriers on buses.
Featured image credit: By Han Zheng – https://www.flickr.com/photos/zhenghan1994/48943280952/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125309901
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