Our regional meeting workshops were a success

By Bonnie Morr, Vice President, Bus – 

I was recently informed of the passing of one of our best bus vice presidents. Kenny Moore was the vice president that helped us at Local 23 to become part of this great organization. Kenny Moore was my mentor. He was active in Washington, D.C., and on the state and local levels on all issues pertaining to the Bus and Transit Departments. He was what every vice president should be. I am honored that I had the opportunity to know him. He will be missed, and I will never forget what he stood for. Rest in peace, Kenny Moore. Our condolences to his family.

I would like to thank all the people that attended the 2013 regional meetings. For those that were unable to attend, the Bus Department had a very unique set of presentations regarding the health and well-being of operator and transit workers.

In Boston, the presenters were from both the medical field and the Transportation Learning Center. They presented information on how our health is impacted by our work. Both Dr. June Fisher, M.D., and Robin Gillespie talked about the health issues so many of us are dealing with on a day-to-day basis: long hours sitting, the lack of restroom breaks, and the inability to access good food on the road. The discussions hit home for many of us.

In Anaheim, Dr. Fisher discussed health issues in transit and transportation, both here and around the world. Dr. Peter Schnall, along with Marnie Dobson, led an interactive workshop on stress in transit and its impact on our health. Amy Calvin and John Tatman from the Los Angeles MTA presented a wellness program that they created and discussed results of the program they have seen at the MTA in Los Angeles. These workshops had some of the best attendance by our brothers and sisters that I have seen in a long time. We had between 30 and 60 participants at workshops in Anaheim and about 25 in Boston.

President Mike Futhey came to our open bus workshop in Anaheim. He spoke with the bus members, answered their questions and spoke about the involvement of SMART in our Bus Department. It was an honor. We received updates from our members on what is happening on their properties and spoke about how we could get stronger. If anyone wants information from the workshops, please contact me and I will be more than happy to provide it. My email address is bmorr@smart-union.org.