The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, the largest union for Washington, DC's public transit system, is refusing to go along with a plan to have separate trains for participants of a controversial "Unite the Right" rally planned for August 12.
Jason Kessler organized last summer's deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville and is organizing the rally as an "anniversary" celebration.
On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Metro board chairman Jack Evans said that the agency might provide separate trains for white nationalists attending the rally.
“We haven’t made any decisions about anything,” Evans said. “We’re just trying to come up with potential solutions on how to keep everybody safe.”
Transit workers were revolted by the proposal.
“Sources have shared with ATU Local 689 that a hate group with Ku Klux Klan affiliation will be provided three private Metro rail cars and police escort to Foggy Bottom Metro Station for the ‘Unite the Right’ 2018 rally," ATU Local 698 said in a statement.
“More than 80% of Local 689’s membership is people of color, the very people that the Ku Klux Klan and other white nationalist groups have killed, harassed and violated," the statement continued. "The union has declared that it will not play a role in their special accommodation.”
The union told Fox 5 DC that the "unprecedented" proposal endangers their workers.
“It certainly puts the workers at risk, but again I can't stress enough this is unprecedented,” said union spokesperson David Stephen. “Here we are in Washington D.C., the home of the president of the United States. But for some reason, we need a chartered train for this group which very frankly is a hate group, and that is a problem in itself."
"It creates an unsafe environment for everyone that they are around," he added.
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