The benefits of unionized labor

[msmercenary]

Sandie Olosky was fired in 2005 from her job as a King County Metro bus driver for what is just about the only possible firing offense for a bus driver: unsafe driving. But everybody deserves a second chance, right? And what do Metro investigators know anyway

Comments

[darthparadox]

Technically, it wasn't "unsafe driving" so much as "unsafe stopping", but the point stands, and the union really shouldn't be protecting people who can't do their job right. I'd like to see the union implicated in the death, at least in a civil case. But it's not going to happen.

[naruvonwilkins]

I would say that there's no reasonable justification for assigning blame here. She was fired, it seems, unnecessarily. Hindsight is 20/20, but she didn't endanger anyone when pulling the bus over - in fact, while she made an error in missing a stop, she did the right thing in getting the police involved.

[darthparadox]

but she didn't endanger anyone when pulling the bus over

That's actually precisely what she did do, according to Metro. At least, that's how I'm reading "stopped the bus in an unsafe place".

[naruvonwilkins]

After which she was reinstated. I don't think we can make the call, from here (even knowing that bridge) as to whether it was more unsafe to drive with angry, potentially violent passengers or to stop in place.