LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  Dozens of Transit Authority of River City (TARC) employees voiced their concerns over unsafe working conditions Thursday afternoon. 

Workers protested outside of TARC headquarters saying they are putting their lives at risk each day to ensure public transportation is available to all Kentuckians and TARC is not providing them the necessary tools to protect themselves. 

“We are literally at war with the virus and with this company not wanting to do anything for their employees,” said Theo Hamilton, President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1447. “Why hire us, why train us if you are not going to take care of us?”

The workers say they want hazard pay for essential work, better access to PPE, and capacity limits at ten people. 

“They have received $42.3 million and they refuse to share that money for essential workers,” Hamilton said. “It’s mandatory we wear a mask but you treat us like regular employees, you called us heroes a few months ago but you won’t give us zeroes it makes no sense.” 

Workers say the PPE that has been provided to by TARC to bus drivers is insufficient, including little access to hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes that are dried up. 

“I thought TARC was doing what they were supposed to do on the PPE clearly they are not,” Hamilton said. “Listen to the drivers.”

The TARC employees were joined by Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate Amy McGrath who voiced her support for the cause. 

“What they are calling for is really basic respect this is a failure all the way at the top of our nations leadership right now,” McGrath said. 

McGrath says the failures at TARC are a result of poor leadership from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and lambasted him for saying providing federal aid to state and local governments would essentially be a “slush fund”.

“It’s BS, it’s literally BS, the idea that you would give literally a slush fund to major corporations, immediately, immediately when this coronavirus hit and then turn around four months later and say to public workers ‘you ought to go bankrupt’ that’s essentially what he is saying,” she said. "It’s absolutely wrong and it’s BS.” 

McGrath also visited a picket by Teamsters Local 89 who have been on strike at DSI Tunneling since August 4. 

These visits to the picket lines come on the same day she was endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees which has 22,500 federal employee members in Kentucky. 

TARC employee contracts prevent them from going on strike.