TRAGEDIES ON THE TRACKS

Tragedies on the Tracks

Two Track Workers were killed last week while doing their jobs. Two Train Operators were traumatized by their inadvertent roles in the deaths.

About one transit employee per year dies in the line of duty. That offers testimony to the danger of the job before any consideration is given to those who are injured, or those whose long-term health is put at risk by the noise and/or toxic substances they are exposed to in the course of their duties.

Their jobs are not thought of as public-safety positions, the way we think of cops or firefighters, and they are not treated with the respect and even reverence those workers are accorded by the public and - especially - editorial writers. But the work they perform is just as vital to the life of this city, and can be just as dangerous.

Those who during the transit strike looked at the salaries and benefits received by transit workers and objected that they had no reason to be complaining might want to reconsider their views.