Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

New York City Bus Drivers Defy the NYPD, Refuse to Transport Arrested Protesters

At Friday’s protests against the police murder of George Floyd, NYC bus drivers were called upon to transport arrested protesters. The bus drivers refused. Unions must develop this solidarity towards a strike against police brutality.

Tatum Regan

May 30, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share

Throughout the country, people are protesting against the brutal police murder of George Floyd, as well as the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, and Ahmaud Arbery. Bowing to enormous public pressure, Floyd’s killer Derek Chauvin has been arrested in an attempt to quell the unrest, but protests have continued. These have been met with harsh repression, with police deploying tear gas and arresting protesters en masse — tactics that are especially violent during a pandemic. This was the case in Brooklyn on Friday night, as New York police cracked down on protests erupting near the Barclays Center. But sectors of the organized working class are already demonstrating solidarity with the protesters.

In a video that has since gone viral, a crowd cheers as an operator from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refuses to drive a bus filled with arrested protesters, in a move similar to that made by bus drivers in Minneapolis.

The Transit Workers Local 100 tweeted a statement giving their official position on the matter: bus operators transport the working families of NYC. They don’t work for the cops.

It is an incredibly powerful example of how sectors of the working class in strategic positions can be in solidarity with mass movements. However, it gestures towards the enormous, and as yet untapped power held by the working class: what does it look like for the working class to take up these demands as their own? 

Many of the NYC transit workers are Black and Brown. Their communities are brutally policed and the targets of state violence. Transit workers are essential workers whose lives have been placed on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic without necessary protection, leading to far higher rates of infection and death from Covid-19 in the MTA than in the general NYC population. The reopening of the economy, the impending budget cuts, the racist police brutality: these are all attacks on the working class.

You might also be interested in: The Cops: Racists and Strike Breakers

Sectors of organized labor have already demonstrated solidarity with the protests; developing this further could be key to forcing accountability from the state. All of the concessions that have been made thus far are due to the tremendous public pressure that protests have been exerting. Unions must link up with the masses in the streets to continue to exert that pressure, taking up the demand of Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, and victims of racist violence, like Ahmaud Arbery. Unions must take up the fight against racism and strike against police brutality.

Facebook Twitter Share

Tatum Regan

Tatum is an educator from New York City.

Labor Movement

“Our Big Push Was for Union Democracy and a Plan to Win”: An Interview with the Amazon Labour Union Democratic Reform Caucus

Two years after the historic victory at JFK8, Amazon workers voted in a referendum in their union. They want to hold new elections and revise the constitution, as part of a struggle to make ALU more democratic and militant. Left Voice spoke with two organizers to discuss the struggle in ALU.

Luigi Morris

March 20, 2024
A banner reads "Real Wages Or We Strike" at a rally for CUNY, which is experiencing cuts from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024
Florida governor Ron DeSantis stands at a podium that reds "Higher Education Reform"

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024
CUNY workers at a demonstration hold a banner that reads "STRIKE TO SAVE CUNY."

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024