Washington, DC, July 30—Union misleaders of the Metro transit system are working around the clock to derail the fight back efforts of over 500 transit workers who rallied today against racist attacks on wages, pensions, inadequate safety provisions and management abuse. Yet, transit workers and PLP members are eager to take militant actions to end these racist attacks.
Transit workers came to the rally hoping that union leaders would lay out a plan for launching a serious fight that would smash the racist attacks. Instead, they found themselves being the receivers of empty words by union leaders, local politicians and management officials.
The union president Jackie L. Jeter, the first Black woman to lead this local, pushed workers to support management’s call of cutbacks that would generate funding for construction and maintenance needs of the transit system. Not surprisingly, she did not permit any speakers proposing an alternative plan like making a union strike ready rather than relying on the politicians and/or partnering with management. She did invite Paul Wiedefeld, the General Manager and Chief Executive Office of Metro, to “hear” the workers and speak to them and he agreed, but then demonstrated his contempt for the workers by conveniently cancelling his appearance.
In addition, Jeter invited Jack Evans, the chairman of the Metro Board and servant to local bosses and developers as a member of the D.C. City Council since 1991, to speak. Evans has publicly called for cutting workers’ pensions, privatizing jobs, and cutting other benefits, a plainly racist attack on the 90 percent Black labor force.
Metro Bosses Derail Workers
Evans promised to get $300 million to cover the current budget deficit from the federal government, similar to the appropriations received from other area jurisdictions. This was a lie! President Bill Clinton’s 1995 budget prohibited the federal government from giving Metro money for operating costs, a ban still which is still in effect.  Evans then promised to get $18 billion to cover long-term construction and maintenance needs of the transit system. He proposed a sales tax on working people to help raise the money, as if the working class isn’t already burdened by taxes!
Confronted with a skeptical crowd and some boos, Evans spoke as a “friend of labor.” He did receive applause from some misled workers. But in reality, Evans threatens the livelihood of workers, one of whom declared at the rally that he gave his youth, skills and commitment to Metro because he thought that the company would take care of him in retirement. Evans and management, with the collaboration of the union leadership, are threatening that possibility.
These capitalist lackeys are also threatening the possibility of turning workers anger and frustration against these racist attacks into a militant fight back against the system of capitalism itself. That is their job—to offer temporary and reformist solutions that allow the bosses to continue reaping their billions of profits.
No Safety on the Job
Little attention was paid to workers who spoke at the rally about the work they do, the safety hazards they face and the skills they have. Many expressed concerns about safety on the transit system, where nearly two dozen workers and passengers have been killed in the past decade with little remorse from the union leaders and the invited politicians. They told stories about not being given bathroom breaks, and not having the parts and support they need to fix equipment properly. Workers have had to resort to picking parts in order to “make it work,” the slogan of the day. The mass slogan should have been to fight back and make a union workers strike-ready!
PL’er Call out Evan’s Attack
PLP wasted no time in calling out union leaders and politicians on the lies they spew. A PL’er confronted racist Evans on his proposed regressive tax on the working class in the region. The PL’er insisted the money should come from the businesses and developers in the region who are making huge profits as a result of the access the transit system provides for their customers. Evans brushed aside this suggestion as “unrealistic,” unsurprisingly, since those bosses and developers contribute regularly to his re-election campaigns and would prefer to soak the workers rather than give up one dollar of their profits.
PL’er were and will continue to help make the latter slogan of fightback a reality, and to let the transit workers know that there is another alternative: communism. The transit workers don’t need much convincing: after the rally over 100 of them enthusiastically took copies of CHALLENGE and spoke with PLP members of the need to be more aggressive in making the union strike ready. The task that lies ahead is to become bolder in disrupting union collaboration with management as we prepare the workers for the intense struggle that lays ahead for a communist world. Our ultimate goal is to put the working class in the driver’s seat of society.