Transit Union President Says Safety for Workers, Riders Within Reach

Jackie L. Jeter appointment to federal transit safety panel
Presents new platform for increased metro oversight, funding

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, beleaguered by deadly accidents in recent years, can be transformed into a safely run system through effective oversight, dedicated funding and institutional accountability that will restore the confidence of riders, workers and taxpayers who support the ailing system. 

So says Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 President Jackie L. Jeter, recently appointed to a 20-member federal board responsible for studying and making recommendations to alleviate some of the challenges facing the nation’s second busiest rail system and other mass transit operations across the country.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week announced that the Transit Rail Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) is aimed at improving federal oversight and implementing strategies to keep millions of American transit workers and riders safe.

“This appointment is an honor on behalf of my members and the public that supports Metro,” noted Jeter, a former rail operator who has led ATU Local 689 since 2007. “My participation provides an opportunity to bring the perspective and expertise of frontline workers to help solve the problems plaguing Metro. There are no easy solutions, but with honest dialogue and a commitment to positive change, the world class system that Metro is destined to be is within our reach.”

Metro has endured funding cuts, budget deficits and several fatal accidents including last year’s Red Line crash that killed nine people. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which lacks enforcement power over WMATA, has issued several recommendations to improve Metro safety that have not been implemented.

The TRACS panel -- composed of labor and industry representatives -- include three other Washington area members including James Dougherty of WMATA; William Grizard of American Public Transportation Association; and Rick Inclima of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division.

 

Award-Winning Documentary Series

Changing the Way Americans Think about Health

To be Rebroadcast by PBS

Unnatural Causes, the prize-winning series exploring the root causes of America’s alarming class and racial health inequities, will be rebroadcast by PBS stations during October (check local listings).

 While Congress debates health care reform, UNNATURAL CAUSES: IS INEQUALITY MAKING US SICK? asks what makes Americans healthy – or sick – in the first place, and offers new remedies for an ailing society. 

The prize-winning, four-hour series crisscrosses the nation to show that health is determined by far more than health care, bad habits, or unlucky genes. UNNATURAL CAUSES circles in on a slow killer in plain view:  the class and racial inequities in the rest of our lives – in the jobs we do, the wealth we enjoy, the neighborhoods we live in - can get under our skin as surely as germs and viruses and kill more Americans in a day than do global pandemics in a year.  It turns out that socio-economic status, race and zip code are even stronger predictors of health and life expectancy than smoking. 

 

McKPR Engages with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Advance Public Health Issues and Diversity in Health Care Professions

McKinney and Associates is pleased to announce its engagement with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) as strategic communications counsel. RWJF is the largest U.S. philanthropy dedicated to improving health and health care for all Americans.

McKinney joins the five communications firms selected through a competitive bid to support the communications efforts for the auspicious and broad-reaching Human Capital Portfolio. The Human Capital Portfolio seeks to assure that the nation has a diverse, well-trained leadership and workforce in the delivery and management of the nation’s health systems. McKinney has been selected as lead firm to oversee communications management and strategic counsel of the portfolio.

McKinney is also providing communications strategy and support to the Praxis Project, the national program office administering the Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE) initiative, part of the Foundation’s Childhood Obesity Portfolio. The firm is working to strategically advance the framework that places systems, equity and community resources as having a direct impact on rates of childhood obesity, particularly within communities of color.

McKinney is recognized as a leader in multicultural communications. The work with RWJF is a reflection of the firm’s expanded focus on public health and health equity.