Get to Know AFL-CIO’s Affiliates: Amalgamated Transit Union
This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we’ve covered all 63 of our affiliates. Next up is the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU).
Name of Union: Amalgamated Transit Union
Mission: To fight for the rights of transit workers and promote mass transit.
Current Leadership of Union: John A. Costa is the current international president of ATU. After the tragic death of ATU International President Larry Hanley in May 2019, Costa was elected by the ATU General Executive Board. He was elected international president in 2019 and re-elected in 2022 by delegates at the ATU International Convention. He had served as an international vice president since 2010. Previously he was chair of the ATU New Jersey State Council from 2008–2010. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Costa launched his career in organized labor at NJ Transit in 1981, joining ATU Local 819. In 2001, after serving his local in various capacities, he was elected president—a position he held for three consecutive terms before moving on to become chair of the ATU New Jersey State Council and then ultimately ATU international vice president. He also previously served as vice president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO and vice president of the Essex-West Hudson Labor Council. He lives in Monmouth County, New Jersey, with his wife and has two daughters and three grandchildren.
Yvette Trujillo serves as international executive vice president, and Kenneth R. Kirk serves as international secretary-treasurer.
Current Number of Members: Over 200,000.
Members Work as: Metropolitan, interstate and school bus drivers; paratransit, light rail, subway, streetcar and ferry boat operators; mechanics and other maintenance workers; clerks, baggage handlers, municipal employees and other occupations.
Industries Represented: Transit and allied workers in the United States and Canada.
History: As industrialization advanced in the United States in the late 1800s, more and more workers needed transportation and workers to run that transportation. Mass transit workers in the early days largely worked with horses that pulled streetcars. The drivers often worked 18-hour days while the horses worked four hours a day or less. The harsh treatment, lack of benefits and low pay planted the seeds for the rise of ATU.
Early on, there were numerous attempts to form a union of transit workers, but efforts had little success until 1888, when Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, led efforts to organize the streetcar workers. In 1892, the first convention of what would become ATU was held in Indianapolis.
Although the year after the first convention was challenging, the union became a beacon of hope for transit workers. Within that first year, 28 local divisions were formed and the first Canadian local was chartered in 1893. Seven years later, membership had reached 8,000.
In the years that followed, ATU continued to expand rapidly amid an era of strikes and violence. The stronger the organization became, the more impact it had. ATU not only pushed for labor reforms such as the six-day workweek and the eight-hour day, but championed technology and rules that made mass transit safer for both workers and riders.
Current Campaigns: The ATU-COPE political action committee is the voice of transit workers, school bus employees and over-the-road bus workers at all levels of government. The Government Affairs Department is dedicated to protecting the jobs and working conditions of all ATU members; it monitors legislation impacting transit, school bus and intercity bus transportation at the federal and state levels.
Community Efforts: In pursuit of its values and mission, ATU has community partnerships with a wide variety of organizations, including the AFL-CIO; BlueGreen Alliance; Coalition for Smarter Growth; Good Jobs First; Industrial Areas Foundation; International Transportation Learning Center; Jobs to Move America; Jobs With Justice; People’s Action; PowerSwitch Action; Sierra Club; Transportation Equity Network/Gamaliel; Transportation for America; Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO; Transit Riders for Public Transit; Transit Workforce Center; U.S. PIRG; and Working America. The Black Caucus is dedicated to the empowerment of all working men and women within ATU. The Women’s Caucus takes on the issues that women face daily, finding collective solutions. The Latino Caucus upholds the rights of Latinos and others to fully develop their cultural traditions. The International PRIDE Caucus serves as a gathering place for members who identify as LGBTQIA+ and allies, providing networking and team building across different properties, roles, levels, races, abilities and ethnic backgrounds. ATU publishes a blog, the ATU Dispatch member newsletter, and In Transit, a quarterly magazine covering labor and transit news from the United States and Canada, the activities of the international union, and feature stories about local unions and members. ATU provides training and education for members. The ATU Disaster Relief Fund helps members affected by tragedies. ATU sells merchandise in its online store.
Learn More: Website, Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, Bluesky, Threads
Kenneth Quinnell
Mon, 04/21/2025 – 12:00