ROBERT THOMPSON

1939-1993

A union leader who made a national mark with his advocacy for public transit workers, Robert Thompson served as President and Business Agent of the Amalgamated Transit Union in San Antonio from 1973 to 1989. 

During Thompson’s presidency, bus drivers saw their wages rise by 189 percent and mechanics achieved 200 percent hikes. The union local managed to step nimbly around state laws and conducted several work stoppages that led to an improved pension plan and health benefits. 

Thompson is best known for his dogged pursuit of a court case that started with a grievance he filed in 1976 over the City of San Antonio’s refusal to pay transit workers overtime pay for time worked in excess of 40 hours a week. In April 1985, in a key case that touched the heart of the relationship between the federal and state governments, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the transit workers were entitled to overtime pay. The ins and outs of that ruling are still a topic of debate at the high court, but the bottom line is that Thompson helped set a standard that has benefited public employees across the nation. 

Thompson’s widow, Linda Chavez-Thompson, was the Executive Vice President of the national AFL-CIO.