Washington, DC, April 11—The management of the Metro transit system in the Washington, DC region, backed by the political leaders of the region, have launched a determined attack on transit workers and riders. It’s the biggest attack on the workers in over 30 years.
Workers are looking for leadership that is prepared to shut down the city until workers’ needs are met, but, unfortunately, the current union leadership is following a losing strategy to resist these attacks. Workers and riders who are serious about fighting back must develop an alternative, mass, communist, leadership that is willing to fight by any means necessary to defend our interests.
Many workers also understand that this attack is racist. The workforce is predominately African-American and many lines that Metro wants to cut affect primarily Black and Latin neighborhoods. The fight against racism is central to the fight for a good contract and against service cuts. In DC, there are protests almost every weekend against Trump’s policies, so workers at Metro feel the riding public will support us in a work action.
Union Misleaders
The bosses know that the weak union leadership has opened the way for them to attack the workers’ contract in the current negotiations. The bosses intend to prevail in their efforts to cut pension and health benefits, increase the firings and harassment of workers, and lay off hundreds of workers by eliminating routes and runs. If they don’t get these cuts through negotiations with the spineless leadership of the union, they will get them through the courts in arbitration.
The union has held several meetings about the contract to tell the membership what Metro is trying to do. Party members have spoken at these meetings to give the history of successful wildcat strike in 1978 that retained our cost-of-living escalator in the contract. They declared at these meetings that the rank-and-file must make the union strike ready, and were met with loud cheers and applause.
At one meeting, the union president tried to stop a Party member from speaking these militant words, but the workers in attendance chanted “Let him speak!” until the president had no choice but to let the party member finish his statement.
Workers support militant ideas. Consistent communist work at Metro has led to respect for those willing to fight.
The union’s strategy of half-baked plans for work actions have been met with a tepid response. The union president called on workers to stop working overtime to protest of Metro’s vicious attacks. She is just shadow boxing! Still, despite the lack of an organized plan for this work action, many workers at garages where party members worked did carry out the action.
The only thing standing between massive cuts in pension and health care benefits is the growth of Party membership at Metro. We need large numbers of workers—not just a handful—to understand the class nature of this struggle and the seriousness of the fight. Otherwise, Metro will succeed in manipulating and dividing us. As we fight these cuts, we must also prepare to eliminate the capitalist class altogether through revolution. The march on May Day points the way towards this communist revolution.