Transit unions pay tribute to workers who died from Covid

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS

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.

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