Thursday, January 13, 2011

AZ Teamsters volunteer at memorial service in Tucson

President Obama speaks at the memorial service.
Teamsters at Local 104 in Arizona lent a hand at the memorial service for the victims of last week's shooting. The overflow crowd of more than 14,000 had to park at a distance from the McKale Center, and so Teamsters volunteered to drive shuttles in between their shifts, on their days off or on their vacation time. Reports KGUN9-News,
Sun Tran is providing free shuttle service to McKale from El Con Mall and Hi Corbett Field and will return people to those sites after the event.

Teamsters 104, the union that represents the drivers, worked out a deal with Sun Tran to provide drivers' services at no cost to the city, because of the city's current budget crunch.
Andy Marshall, the state executive director of Local 104, said Sun Tran drivers working the shuttle service are volunteering their time. They are working extra hours in between shifts; some have come in off vacations and others offered to work on their day off.
"We offered our services to work for free," Marshall said.
Volunteer drivers will be coming and going all day to drive the shuttles before and after the memorial event at UA.
Props to Local 104. And a reminder that it's just another way unions serve their communities.