Workers Should Run the World: A Bus Operator's Perspective – A conversation with Erek Slater, a bus operator for the Chicago Transit Authority.

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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 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.