Transit unions pay tribute to workers who died from Covid

Union officials from the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association, the Amalgamated Transit Union and the United Transit Leadership Organization held a memorial service Thursday honoring transit workers who died of Covid.

The tribute, which took place at the Charleston Bus Depot on Staten Island, commemorated dozens of Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers who were represented by the unions and fell to the virus.

The MTA was especially hard hit by Covid: 175 employees died from coronavirus, according to the agency. MTA employees, themselves essential workers, transported other essential workers to and from their jobs during the darkest days of the pandemic, many of them becoming ill.

The union leaders read aloud the names of their members who died. Several elected officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, attended the ceremony, during which plaques honoring 10 of the fallen workers were given to their families. State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and former State Senator Diane Savino also attended the memorial event.

'They paid the highest price'

The president of the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association, Mike Carrube, who represents 4,100 supervisors, bus dispatchers and maintenance supervisors, noted that 18 of his members have died from the virus. 

“We were trying to honor their dedication to the job and put out there that we recognize that they came to work during hard times and paid the highest price,” he told The Chief following the memorial tribute. “This is something that happened, just like 9/11 happened, and these workers should be remembered.”

In May, SSSA negotiated a contract agreement that provides lifetime health benefits. The union’s members have two different health coverage options — the New York State Health Insurance Program and Aetna — but previously, the families of deceased members who were on the Aetna plan were only able to retain their health benefits for one year.

The president of the United Transit Leadership Organization, Mario Bucceri, who represents over 900 managerial employees in the MTA including deputy superintendents, superintendents and assistant general superintendents, recalled two of his members who died from the virus and  their role in forming the nascent union.

“I did have two members, Stu Cohen, I was very, very close with him, and Clarence Roman, both of them perished and I really missed them a lot,” he said during the event. “And they were very instrumental in getting us unionized as managers. We were able to create a management union for the first time ever in 2015 and they got people to get cards for us. So I just want to thank them from the bottom of my heart.”

Cohen, a general superintendent and Staten Island resident, was 64 when he died on April 5, 2020. Roman, who was also a general superintendent and spent 37 years working for the MTA, was 57 when he died on May 3, 2020.

Carrube said he hoped to hold future memorial tributes with other transit unions. “Instead of just a handful of unions, it should be all of us,” he said.

clewis@thechiefleader.com