Transit Workers Honored by Riders Allliance

A leading transit riders organization honored TWU Local 100 members Monday night for their heroic pandemic service with a special on-line tribute.

The Riders Alliance, which advocates for increased transit funding and system improvements, praised transit workers as a group for keeping New York City moving during this unprecedented crisis.

“We are here tonight to recognize their dedication, valor and sacrifice,” Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum said during the event. “As essential workers powered the pandemic response - health care workers, grocery store workers, pharmacy workers - it was the transit workers who were our unsung heroes - the heroes carrying heroes.”

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano participated by Zoom and accepted the honor on behalf of the membership. He was joined on screen by three Local 100 members: Train Operator Icelean Scales, Station Agent Moneta Lewis, and Bus Operator Jelani Washington.

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“I proudly accept this honor on behalf of the hardworking and dedicated members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 - and in memory of the union brothers and sisters we lost during this pandemic,” Utano said. “Transit workers have been on the front lines throughout this unprecedented crisis. We’ve risked and endured and sacrificed a lot. We greatly appreciate this recognition and special tribute from the Riders Alliance - and the riders we serve every day.”

Scales – and third generation transit worker – said she was thrilled to be one of the transit workers representing the membership.

“I'm really in awe of the riders recognizing and honoring my brothers and sisters like myself because, for most of us, we love what we do and we come to work to support and do our best – to run that railroad,” Scales said prior to the event. “We do it no matter what happening around us! Transit tough style!”

The Riders Alliance is a grassroots organization with thousands of members who are bus and subway riders. It is a non-profit with a professional staff that lobbies for transit funding and organizes campaigns for improved bus and subway service in the city.