“A true ATU hero”

Jeanice McMillan

As a retired bus-driver from Rochester’s Regional Transit Service, I continue to be a member of Local 282, the local division of the nationwide Amalgamated Transit Union (“ATU”), my union at Transit.
As such, I get “In Transit,” the national bimonthly union magazine. It comes out of union offices in Washington, D.C.
Usually I just toss it; boring posturing by union officials, and long-winded rendering of national convention minutes.
But an article caught my eye.
“Jeanice McMillan; a true ATU hero,” it blared.
Jeanice McMillan was the operator of that southbound Washington Metro commuter train that rear-ended a stopped train at speed last June, killing nine passengers.
Also killed was Jeanice, a member of Local 689 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Immediately the media began circulating accusations of texting while operating, possible impairment, and inexperience.
“Balderdash!” said “In Transit.”
Metro trains are operated by computer. A glitch occurred. The computer was supposed to automatically stop her train, but it didn’t.
Facing certain death, she overrode everything and threw her train into emergency. She never left her post.
Anyone who’s ever worked with computers knows strange anomalies occur. The Metro computers are supposed to offset the possibility of operator error, but what if the computers err?
The operator accusations were found to have no merit, and D.C. officials called her a hero for slowing her train enough to save a few lives.
But the operator accusations continue to circulate, and I know all too well how management likes to blame the hourlies, especially if they’re unionized.

Warren George

Quoting Warren George, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union:
“The preliminary investigation has thus far failed to find any operator error. But it has revealed a technological failure — a track circuit sensor malfunction.
Metro General Manager John Catoe praised Sister McMillan as a hero who saved lives. Bishop Glen A. Staples (at her funeral) said, ‘You’ve got to be a different kind of person to look at death head-on and say, “I’m going to save as many as I can.” We have a debt of gratitude for what she has done for the city.’
Our members are professionals who save lives every day by keeping a watchful eye, by dealing with problem passengers and by preventing serious accidents. When we cannot prevent an accident, we stay calm and, sometimes, as the bishop said about Sister McMillan, we ‘ride that train to heaven.’
That’s why it is so unfair when people blame operators first — particularly when they are not there to defend themselves.
If any good can come out of this tragedy, it is that it has increased awareness that we must provide the funding for transit systems all over the U.S. and Canada to upgrade and the replace the antiquated equipment which can cause terrible accidents.
And, we can resolve to challenge the rush to blame transit operators for any transit accident which may occur.”

• “Transit” equals Regional Transit Service, the transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY, where I drove transit-bus for 16&1/2 years (1977-1993).
• “Threw her train into emergency” is to apply full train brakes. Usually this just locks the wheels, and momentum keeps the train sliding forward. It’s hard to stop a train. Ya don’t just stop it on a dime.