We chat with Erek Slater, a bus operator for the Chicago Transit Authority, where he's been working for the past 15 years. Erek is a family man, a father, and a three-term elected shop steward and executive board member of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 241. We talk about his working life and all that goes into being a bus operator, all the things that passengers never see—even though we depend on workers like Erek every day to live our lives. We also talk about Erek's experience as a shop steward and about his unshakeable commitment to honor, justice, and to empowering the working class. In fact, it was because he stood up for these things that he was unjustly dismissed from his job in May. 

 

Additional links/info below...

 

• International Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater
• PETITION: Drop All Charges and Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater 
• Update on Campaign to Reinstate Chicago Bus Driver Erek Slater  
• Erek's Facebook page and Twitter page
• ATU Local 241 website page

 

• Connecticut Workers Crisis Response Facebook page

 

• Sarah Lazare, Jacobin, "A Chicago Bus Driver Says He Was Retaliated Against for His Opposition to Transporting Police to Protests" 
• WorkWeek Radio, ""We May Have To Shut It Down" Fight To Protect Health & Safety For Chicago ATU 241 Members & Public" 
• Labor Beat, "São Paulo Is A Union Town: Travel Notes of a Chicago Trade Unionist"
• Labor Beat, "Joint Action in Tokyo and Seoul"

 

 

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Cletus Got Shot, "Justice Is My Name"