Great moments in public employee unionism, cont’d

“Metro is fighting its largest union, which has sued to reinstate a tunnel fan inspector who was fired after last year’s L’Enfant Plaza smoke disaster for allegedly falsifying an inspection report and later lying about his actions.” The lethal smoke incident killed one rider “and injured dozens more.” [Martine Powers, Washington Post, earlier]

One Comment

  • Not certain this is unionism. The article cited by Mr. Olson at least raises credible doubts as to who is to blame;
    “Haile later told officials that he had left a blank spot on his inspection report, indicating that the particular fan in question had not been properly scrutinized. He testified that in the hours after the L’Enfant Plaza incident — before it became apparent what had gone wrong — his supervisors had pressured him to fill in the blank spot. ”

    So, IF the fan failure can credibly be linked to deaths (the article also notes that the timing of events does not support this), and IF the failure to inspect led to the fan failure, only then could someone be at fault.
    But even if fault is present, then who? If the allegation that supervisors facilitated altering documentation after the fact, then perhaps it is they, and not the union grunt that get the heave ho.