Remembering Warren George - ATU International President Emeritus
The ATU is mourning the passing of Warren George, the ATU’s seventh International President, who died on June 28, 2026, at the age of 92. He led the union from 2003 to 2010, capping a career that began not in an office but on the front lines of organizing.
From Bus Driver to Union Man
Born the youngest of ten children in North Braddock, Pennsylvania, George’s path to labor leadership started far from a boardroom. After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he took a job with Union Railroad in 1956, then moved to Critchlow Bus Company as a driver for the Penn Hills School District near Pittsburgh. It was there that George helped organize his coworkers, an experience that would define the rest of his life. He joined ATU Local 85-Pittsburgh, PA, and never looked back.
Rising Through the Ranks
George’s rise through the union was earned. He became a bus mechanic at the Port Authority of Allegheny County, was elected Shop Steward, then President/Business Agent of Local 85 in 1970, and Local Financial Secretary-Treasurer five years later. In 1975, he was elected International Vice President. By 1993, he held the role of International Executive Vice President, a position he’d be reelected to before the General Executive Board named him International President in 2003, following Jim La Sala’s retirement.
“An Organizer at Heart”
“An organizer at heart, Warren committed resources to organizing and bringing new members into the ATU family as transit agencies faced budget cuts, service cutbacks, and fare increases,” said current International President John Costa. “On behalf of our more than 200,000 members, we send our deepest condolences and prayers to Warren’s three children and their families.”
A Farewell
A Mass of Christian Burial was held on July 8, at St. Joseph-on-Carrollton Manor Catholic Church in Frederick, Maryland. George was interred the following day at Good Shepherd Cemetery in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, close to where his career in transit and organizing first took root.
Warren George’s story is, in many ways, the story of the ATU itself. It began with a single bus driver deciding his coworkers deserved better and grew from there. Rest in power, Brother.