Minneapolis bus drivers are refusing to transport protesters to jail.
What We Know:
- With pressure rising between police and protesters in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd, the city’s bus drivers made a clear statement on who they support.
- The driver union, ATU Local 1005 issued a statement of solidarity on Thursday. Some drivers even went as far as to refuse to use their buses to help law enforcment transport protesters to jail.
- One Minneapolis bus driver, Adam Burch, told the labor publication Payday “As a transit worker and union member, I refuse to transport my class and radical youth. An injuy to one is an injury to all. The police murdered George Floyd and the protest against is completly justified and should continue until their demands are met.”
- The Union felt the same. “This system has failed all of us in the working class, from the coronavirus to the economic crisis we are facing,” they said. “But the system has failed people of color and black Americans and black youth more than anyone else.”
- The Union added: “‘NOT ONE MORE’ when dealing with driver assults, which in some cases have lead to members being murdered while doing their job. We say ‘NOT ONE MORE’ [to the] execution of a balck life by the hands of the police. NOT ONE MORE! JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD!”
Unfortunately, according to Payday “it would be illegal for [the Union] to call for a wildcat strike”. In the wake of the protest, transit workers have also started a group called “Union Members for #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd”. This group is to help make sure the labor of the transit workers is not used to help the Minneapolis Police Department shut down calls for justice.
