Union Hacks End Bus Strike, Workers Have No Say

NEW YORK CITY, February 24 — After standing strong through a month-long strike in bitter cold, rain and snow, striking New York City school bus workers were told by their Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)  Local 1181 “leaders” to end their strike and return to work February 20. The order came via a teleconference that let the sellouts dodge any questions and avoid any objection to ending this strike. And the workers were not permitted to vote on this decision.
The role of the union leaders became increasingly clear to the workers. On the last day of picketing, workers at one site did not receive their weekly check while the union representative boasted that “you are damn right, I received mine.” Workers were furious and talked about picketing the union headquarters demanding their full pay. This union hack actually thought what he did was more important than what the striking workers were doing.
The workers were striking for their jobs; they work for companies that have contracts with the NYC school system, which put the contracts up for new bids. In a 1979 strike, the workers won the right to keep their jobs and benefits with any new contractor, but the city provoked the 2013 strike by refusing to continue to honor those gains. The city intends to replace the current workforce with low-wage non-union workers.
For the last two weeks of the strike, misleaders of the NYC Central Labor Council, and the local and international ATU had been begging for a “face-saving” way to end the strike. They asked Mayor Bloomberg to delay bids on bus routes and negotiate for three months while workers returned to work. Bloomberg  refused — but when a group of Democratic Party candidates for the 2013 mayoral election signed a statement pledging to respect seniority rights if elected, the phonies seized on this statement to declare victory and end the strike.
But, as we well know, politicians will promise anything to get themselves elected! This hollow promise is not a contract and won’t protect the jobs of workers. The new bids will allow bus companies to hire workers without regard to seniority, enabling them to replace higher-paid workers with lower-paid ones. A revolving-door system of newly-hired workers will likely replace the existing stable, reliable long-term workforce.
Throughout the strike, PL’ers took part in picket lines and support activities, brought friends and co-workers, and had wide-ranging discussions with strikers on issues that workers face. We explained that we wanted to support and spread the strike and talk to union members about why ultimately workers need to take power. Many workers wanted to discuss issues larger than the strike itself and welcomed our communist ideas. Many workers saw this as part of the crisis of capitalism and knew that the class struggle would continue after the strike ended.
Primarily we discussed how U.S. capitalism’s efforts to maintain its supremacy in the world economic order was driving attacks on the living standards of the working class all over the U.S. Many immigrant workers related the struggle here to those in the countries they came from. We also discussed the nature of the union leadership, their ties to the bosses and the bosses’ system.
The union leaders tried to build passivity in the workers, telling them what to do and when. But if what we saw on the picket lines is any example of the militancy and class consciousness of the workers in this union, this battle is far from over.
Now we are continuing our discussions about what winning would mean. A grouping of bus workers meeting with PL’ers to learn about our ideas and activities will be a step forward. This will lead to an even stronger fight as layoffs and contract fights loom. Recruitment of friends we have met on the picket lines will bring the day closer when we can rid ourselves of the capitalist yoke once and for all.
We invite all of the striking drivers and matrons to march on May Day, so that we can honor their fighting spirit and inspire other workers and students to fight back.