OAKLAND, CA, December 13 — The results of the “neutral” arbitration between AC Transit (mass transit in SF Bay Area) and ATU 192 have come back: major sacrifices for bus drivers, mechanics, and maintenance workers. Topping the long list is an unprecedented 6% pay CUT in the first year of the contract. Also, the company will no longer pay workers for the first day off when they call in sick. Sick workers will have to come in to work, if they can’t afford to miss a day’s pay. For parents who are holding a whole family together on one paycheck — and there are many among us — this is blackmail.
These are the results of the supposedly “neutral” arbitrator. But how can the process be called “neutral” when transit workers have to bail out the transit agency? We didn’t cause the crisis, the banks did! Yet the banks and corporations don’t have to pay extra, even though the transportation WE provide adds value to THEIR real estate and allows THEIR businesses to function.
Without a Fight
At a special meeting in July, the International union representative said, “I believe AC management is scared to go to arbitration.” Scared?! Management wasn’t “scared” of arbitration. They only opposed arbitration because they knew the union leadership was not prepared to strike. They punked the union — and our President had the nerve to “thank” the arbitrator! As recently as November’s union meeting, the local President still called the Arbitration a “victory.”
Many drivers say, “What they’re trying to do is break the union.”
OK, question: Who needs to “break” the union, when management is already able to cut our pay without a fight? The union is broken already — from the International on down.
Out of the Woodwork
Now that the damage is done, workers are upset. Most of the blame is placed on our local union leadership, and many workers want to replace them. In this situation, people start to pop out of the woodwork, and talk about running for union office.
These people have organized nothing over the past several years. No protests, no newsletters, no nothing. Many don’t even go to union meetings. Some are ex-union officials who have been in hibernation since they got booted out last time, and want to hold office again. Others are people who like to pretend like they have all the answers, and if only they were president, they would be “smart” enough to “get things done.”
Need a Movement
As much as people might want to believe that electing the right person could solve our problems, what we need is a mass movement. The history taught in school in this capitalist society tells us that the leader is everything, the masses are nothing. But communists don’t buy it — we know that masses of people make history, especially through protests, strikes and revolutions.
Instead of focusing on who the next President will be, we need to get started building a movement that involves rank-and-file union members. We have a lot of work to do: produce a newsletter, protest at the Board Meetings for the re-hire of our laid-off co-workers, and prepare for future job actions. This is going to be a hard, long process. But it’s the only way for transit workers to get a taste of the real power that we have: power in numbers, power to shut down transportation, power to shut down the capitalist economy. That’s a lot of power!
Workers power’ is a “dirty little secret” that the bankers and CEO’s don’t want us to find out about because once we do, we might use it to make a revolution! That’s why Progressive Labor Party is organizing a Political Economy class in the Bay Area. Any transit workers who would like to understand more about how capitalism works are invited. Once we are conscious of our true strength as a working class, nothing can stop us! J