Socialist Action /April 2001
N.Y. Transit Union Begins to Flex its
Muscles
By MARTY GOODMAN
Last December's dramatic election victory by the
rank-and-file New Directions Caucus of the Transport Workers Union (TWU)
Local 100 has transformed the union. Local 100 represents 33,000 subway
and bus workers in the New York City area and is now likely to resume its
once militant role within the labor movement.
Upon taking over on Jan. 2, the new leadership
of Local 100 was immediately confronted with several crises. One was a deepening
shortfall in the MTA's funding of health care benefits, estimated at $23
million for this year alone.
This inadequate funding had been engineered into
the 1999 contract by the MTA with the agreement of former TWU Local 100
President Willie James and used-along with onerous work-rule concessions-to
finance modest wage increases.
Heeding their union's call, some 10,000 TWU members
rallied on March 28 in midtown Manhattan near the Metropolitan Transit Authority
(MTA) to protest the benefits shortfall.
New Local 100 President Roger Toussaint addressed
the huge crowd, stating, "You've shown the MTA that they cannot take
our health benefits hostage without a thunderous response from New York
City transit workers. ... We are under attack and we have summoned our troops!
"New York City Transit is not playing fair
and is not coming up with their fair share of the health benefits funds
for our families. The result is that we have a serious shortfall which will
cost each family $1000 in out of pocket expenses over the next two years
if not corrected-and that is unacceptable!"
As early as February 2000, the MTA was aware that
a serious shortfall would develop, an MTA document reveals. However, this
information was not openly discussed because of the ongoing Local 100 union
elections. Stopping New Directions-not saving benefits-was their selfish
motive.
Bus strike victory
The rally's spirit was fueled by a victorious one-day
strike on March 1 by some 750 Local 100 members in the privately owned Liberty
Lines bus company. Local 100 represents a total of some 6000 workers at
private bus lines in Westchester County and New York City's Bronx and Queens
boroughs. These workers are not subject to the anti-union Taylor Law, which
prohibits strikes by New York's subway and bus workers who are state employees.
Liberty Lines workers, who are employed in Westchester
County just north of the Bronx, have always felt like second-class citizens.
They work for about $2 an hour less than their counterparts in the MTA.
In the last five years these workers saw less than 7 percent in raises in
their checks.
Many bus drivers are on the job for 50 to 60 hours
a week but receive only 40 hours pay due to unpaid "swing" time
between bus runs. Their contract doesn't include paid sick time or pay for
night work. Many Liberty Lines retirees live on pensions of only $500 a
month.
About three-quarters of the Liberty Lines workers
operate the Bee-Lines, which is subsidized by Westchester County, the richest
county on the East Coast. The remaining Liberty Lines workers operate the
Express Lines, serving northern Bronx. The Express Lines are subsidized
by New York City, whose Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, offered a measly 2.5 percent
a year increase to all municipal unions.
For the first time during contract negotiations,
Liberty Lines workers were invited to the site of negotiations. About 200
came, prepared to strike when the contract expired at midnight Feb. 28.
The members had already voted for militant action at a Feb. 25 Liberty Lines
union meeting.
At about 2 a.m., the union asked members to set
up strike pickets. In response, management improved its offer. At a membership
meeting that weekend, Toussaint outlined a tentative agreement that met
with virtual unanimous support, organizers say.
Bee-Lines workers won 4 percent yearly wage increases
over three years and parity with NYC transit workers in the fourth year.
Unfortunately, the NYC subsidized Express Lines workers received only a
2.5 percent yearly increase. However, both lines have a "me too"
contract clause that will add anything the unsettled Queens lines receives
in excess of the Liberty Lines.
Also, all Liberty Lines workers will receive a
remarkable 51% increase in payments made to health benefits to guarantee
present benefits over the life of the contract and an immediate 28% increase
in the monthly pension payments to retirees. Although some of the union's
demands were not won, progress was made in many areas, such as 7% extra
pay for night work and limited "swing time" pay.
Said Bill Mooney, TWU division chair of West Chester,
"The contracts will never be the same after this. There was this build-up
of static energy. You knew the dam was going to break and the transit guys
were not going to be held back."
Despite the efforts of the MTA to provide limited
bus service during the strike not one Local 100 member scabbed. Union organizers
were at work locations building solidarity. Mail-in membership ratification
ballots are expected to be counted in early April.
It was the union's strategy to link the Express
lines contract to the Bee-Line agreement negotiated with Westchester County
and use that precedent in the upcoming Queens private lines contracts.
A mass private lines rally in Queens on Feb. 13
attracted an unprecedented 1500 workers. The Queens workers simply ignored
attempts to sabotage the meeting by the union's old-guard officials.
Revamping the union local
New Local 100 financial advisors have unraveled
a deep financial crisis. For instance, the former leadership had rented
commercial space at Local 100's union-owned headquarters at far below market
values, which cost the local $2 million a year. These rentals were coupled
with suspiciously high broker's fees.
In addition, a threatened one-time withdrawal of
pension funds by deposed union officials, totaling about $5 million, could
bankrupt the local. The former officials, corrupt as well as incompetent,
were quite sure they wanted generous pensions-but hadn't quite figured out
how to pay for them!
Contributing to this financial mess were the free-spending
habits of former union officials, which contributed to their election defeat.
Some 80 percent of their union credit card charges were for food and entertainment.
In February, an emergency financial plan was adopted
by the Executive Board, keeping the local solvent but financially weak.
The investigation into financial irregularities continues.
On his first day in office, President Toussaint,
in a bold attack on Transit's hated discipline system, fired all six of
the so-called "impartial" arbitrators responsible for many anti-worker
rulings. New arbitrators have been appointed by mutual agreement with Transit.
Toussaint himself was framed and fired in 1998 at arbitration, a ruling
he is still contesting.
In addition, the old union lawyers were replaced
by a labor law team headed by attorney Arthur Schwartz, ND's longtime lawyer.
Other Local 100 changes include a series of borough-wide
union meetings; the creation of a Local 100 newspaper; a revamped safety
department; a new grievance department; a walk-in workers' compensation
clinic; an ambitious recruitment drive for shop stewards; a sharp reduction
in union officers' salaries (however, less than the New Directions platform
had promised); and reaching out to the public through leaflets and joining
rider coalitions.
Not positive, however, has been the presence of
many Democratic Party politicians and candidates at TWU events at the union's
invitation. These politicians were nowhere to be found when Local 100 was
slapped with two unconstitutional injunctions during the 1999 contract talks.
Although Local 100 has not endorsed anyone, a union
strategy that relies on either the Democratic or Republican parties-both
of which are run by Wall Street, bankers, and crooked landlords-will ultimately
be the easy prey of the very same capitalist class that runs the MTA. An
open discussion of the local's political perspectives is needed.
Socialist Action /April 2001 |