Standing beneath the tracks of the Green Line, they marched back and forth bearing bright yellow signs emblazoned, “No Service Cuts!”
Sara Doe, one of the protestors, has already been hit hard by budget cuts this year — she was one of more than 100 workers laid off from the Chicago Public Library in July.
Now, she works for minimum wage at a movie theater and she depends on public transportation to get around to look for more jobs. Proposed cuts to the CTA would reduce or cut bus and train services, making it difficult for her to get home late from work — or to find more work.
“Nobody can get around without buses,” said Doe, who lives on the Northwest Side. “I take everything — Belmont, Austin, Brown Line, Blue Line — I took the Green Line to get here.”
The protest was organized by the two chapters of the Amalgamated Transit Union that represent CTA bus and train operators. It drew union members, and also passengers spurred to action by the Web site NoCTACuts.org.
Sean Pavey is one of them.
“This attack on the unions right now, it affects everyone,” said Pavey, a Little Village resident who frequently rides the Pink Line. “These are public services that belong to the people.”
Windy Citizen 