We Must Take Action Now to Protect Ourselves & the Public from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Transit workers have been abandoned on the front lines of the deadly COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic by the Governor, management and our own union’s elected leaders. To protect ourselves and the public, we now have no choice but to take action ourselves.

We are being pushed to continue driving buses, working platforms, breathing the stale re-circulated air of their trains and cramming into tiny crew rooms without being provided basic protective equipment and sanitized conditions. As a result of these criminal policies, today’s news confirms that 14 Local 100 members have already tested positive for the virus and the real number of infected workers is surely far higher. It is now up to us to stop this madness. 

Transit workers have legal rights to refuse to work in dangerous conditions. It’s urgently necessary for Local 100 members to understand these rights and use them. And that’s especially the case after our union leadership released a bulletin yesterday that amounts to a death sentence to transit workers, our loved ones and members of the general public.

Let’s quickly look at how the Utano leadership of our union has gone along with management’s criminal refusal to provide us with safe working conditions, then focus on the actions we should take now.

LOCAL 100 LEADERS PUSHING
DEADLY MTA POLICIES

Yesterday (days after the Utano leadership of Local 100 released a “Coronavirus Update” that made clear they were protecting themselves by cancelling union meetings for the next two months), a new Local 100 bulletin appeared, promoting MTA Chairman Foye’s “key points” in a “Q & A with Workers” that they staged on Youtube to discuss working amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The bulletin did not say a word about our rights to refuse to work in unsafe conditions and simply repeated management’s points, including how management will continue to refuse to provide us with basic protections!

Shockingly, the Local 100 bulletin states without complaint that “The MTA will not be providing testing for the virus,” despite our high risk of exposure. We know that the Trump Administration sabotaged the development and distribution of test kits and that there’s still a shortage of them, but the MTA should still be committed to providing the tests as soon as they’re available.

But worst of all, the Local 100 leadership buried in their bulletin’s eighth point the fact that the MTA is continuing to refuse to provide us with masks or gloves unless “they are part of your regular PPE.” As if working with the riding public during a deadly pandemic is part of our regular job description!

All that MTA management has done is finally reverse the deadly directive made by MTA Chief Safety Officer Patrick T. Warren weeks ago that told transit workers not to wear masks and directed that:

“If a supervisor/manager is made aware of an employee wearing a mask, they should tell the employee that masks may not be worn during working hours.” (‘Memorandum to All MTA Employees,’ March 6, 2020)

Now at least the elected union officers who sold us out and joined management in repeating this deadly advice can stop doing so, like RTO VP Eric Loegel who shamefully backed up management’s opposition to masks, admitting in writing that he had “debates” with members about this and offering the sick excuse that “We’re [Loegel and management] trying to reduce unnecessary panic and hysteria among our members.”

Clearly we cannot expect our sellout leaders to stand up for us. So it’s up to us to know our rights to protect ourselves and the riding public.

1. WE HAVE RIGHTS TO STAY HOME

Local 100’s top leaders seem to be keeping this a secret from the members, but we have been officially informed that in response to the Governor’s State of Emergency, the MTA has agreed that effective immediately and until at least April 15:

“The Authority has temporarily suspended the Doctor’s Certification requirement for all absences of five days or less.”

This agreement includes employees on the sick control lists. It means that every member has the right to stay home due to illness without having to prove their condition. This agreement has been publicized to Car Equipment Department members in writing and confirmed by several union officers including Conductor/Tower’s Division Chair Raul Lugo.

Therefore, in the interests of not just our own health but that of the riding public, transit workers who feel symptoms of illness should not hesitate to use their sick time without fear of repercussions. We can take five days off work without having to produce medical documentation. If we feel better and return to work only to feel sick again, we should take off sick again immediately and again have the right to stay out for five days before medical documentation would be required.

Tony Utano and the other top officials of our union seem to be keeping this agreement secret from the members for fear that we will use them to conduct a sickout. Encouraging or conducting a sickout would be an illegal violation of the Taylor Law and we are not doing so. We are simply reporting this fact, just like we can report that the threat of a sickout by New York public school teachers probably saved countless lives by forcing Mayor De Blasio to close the city’s schools.

2. WE HAVE THE RIGHT

TO REFUSE UNSAFE WORK

If you are healthy and believe you must report to work, all Local 100 members must understand that our contract gives us the legal right to refuse to work in conditions that violate rules and laws regarding health and safety on the job.

Right now Governor Cuomo, MTA Chairman Foye and the rest of management are trying to have it both ways by officially encouraging us “to follow safety guidelines including … social distancing” while demanding that we keep working under conditions that make that impossible. Cuomo has made clear that means keeping six feet distance from others (New York Times, March 16), so without proper masks, eye-protection and gloves, if you’re often unable to keep six feet distance from others in performing your job, that means it’s unsafe and in violation of the safety guidelines that the MTA is promoting! 

            Our contract is clear, when an employee or group of employees believes that work is in violation of safety rules or laws, we have the right to stop the work and request a Safety Dispute Resolution Form from our Supervisor who is contractually required to have the form on them and available at all times. We also have the right to speak to a union representative before filling out that form, so after requesting representation we can wait until a union rep contacts us. The Supervisors on site must then respond and attempt to resolve the safety concerns and the MTA’s Office of System Safety and head of the Department in question, as well as the TWU Director of Safety and Health, must be notified immediately upon completion of the Safety Dispute Resolution form. At the conclusion of this process, if a decision is made that the work is not in violation of a safety rule or law in can resume.

GENERAL DEMANDS FOR SAFE WORKING CONDITIONS

The more we know our rights and use them to protect our safety and that of the riding public, the more we can force the Governor and MTA management to listen to our demands for safe working conditions amidst this pandemic. We believe these should include:

• The MTA must provide N95 or N99 masks, protective eyewear and gloves to all transit workers who want them;
  
• Regular cleaning and sanitizing of operating cabs and equipment between each trip and also of break rooms regularly; 
• Soap, hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes readily available throughout the system;
   
• That the MTA provide COVID-19 testing free of charge to all members upon request, and that the MTA regularly report statistics on the spread of the virus within the MTA workforce and proactive notify personnel if there is a reasonable belief they may have been exposed;
  
• No overcrowded crew rooms or work facilities. We all know that many of the TA crew facilities are old and so incredibly small that it’s impossible to keep 3 feet, let alone 6 feet away from one another. The MTA must immediately find solutions that allow the proper social distancing or the relevant lines must be shut down until they can. In RTO, key locations include 145^th Street (A/B/C/D), Astoria (N & W), 148^th Street-Lenox (3), New Lots Avenue (3), Utica Avenue (4), and Flatbush Avenue (2 & 5).

We must take every opportunity to exercise our rights and publicize these demands. That will not only advance our immediate interests in protecting the health and safety of workers and the public. It will also contribute to a new sense of solidarity among members and help build an alternative leadership for our union, because we’re now facing the deadly consequences of having a corrupt union leadership that’s in the pocket of the Governor and management.

10 Reasons to Vote No on Utano, Cuomo and MTA Management's Proposed Contract

1.    Each Year, a Real Cut in Our Wages

  Every Local 100 member should know Utano & Co. are lying when they say their proposed contract will raise our wages above inflation. The truth is that unless we vote No and fight for a better deal, this proposed contract means a real cut in our take home pay.

  We all know from our experience of daily life that the cost of living is rising faster than what the rigged official figures say. Heck, the average cost of auto insurance in New York City increased 24% this year!* And as for the most basic expenses, Con Edison, for example, just announced that they’re raising the price of gas and electricity by 7.7% and 4% respectively this January, with even bigger hikes in the following years, and you can bet businesses will pass those increased expenses onto consumers.**

  This contract gives some Departments special wage increases and other sweeteners to divide and conquer Local 100 members. We must reject this, stay united and vote NO!

* ‘Car Insurance Rates by State 2019,’ Insure.com, www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-rates.html.

** ‘Con Ed on verge of three-year rate hike,’ NY Daily News, Dec. 9, www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-con-edison-rate-hike-20191209-digfaf6fhffazioypz4tf2xlqq-story.html.

2.    Major Health Care Givebacks including a new $100 Emergency Room Co-Pay and big increases in prescription drug co-pays!

3.    The Stations Department Agreement opens the door to layoffs of Station Agents and invites unsafe work and speed-up for all members!

  Station Agents are the members facing the most dire threat of layoff and they are the ones that this contract does not protect with a No-Layoff clause. And the contract’s approval of the continued use of private contractors’ non-union labor in the deep cleaning of Stations sets up Local 100 cleaners to be pressured to accept unsafe conditions and harder work than ever before.

4.  The LIRR “Me Too Clause” is an empty lie!

We all know that LIRR workers earn much more than MTA workers for doing the same, if not easier, work. This contract does nothing to close that gap. The leadership’s Vote Yes propaganda claims they won a real “Me Too clause” that would see our wages rise at the same rate as LIRR workers if they win a better deal. But in reality the contract only states that “this Agreement shall reopen” if that’s the case – there’s no guarantee, and the MTA has no intention of giving LIRR workers a better deal anyway.

5.    The “Group Employee Availability Initiative”

  The proposed contract states that “the parties anticipate that at least a one and a half day improvement in Employee Availability will be achieved. For each additional improvement above one day in Overall Employee Availability the union and the MTA will share equally in the savings as they shall each determine.” This gives the union leadership a direct financial incentive to encourage union members to work as many days as possible, even if sick or injured, to help the MTA bosses!

  A competent union leadership would tell the MTA that if they are concerned about Employee Availability they should agree to contract terms that guarantee safer working conditions with guaranteed breaks and better healthcare, and they should end the “Plantation Justice” Labor Relations system that unfairly punishes transit workers.

6.    Health and Safety

  The entire section on Health and Safety says: “Local 100 will be notified, in advance, of the introduction of all chemicals and or tools before these items are used.” That means there are no guarantees that the union will be able to approve or reject the introduction of new and possibly dangerous chemicals or tools. This, in the wake of the discovery that a Bus Depot in East New York was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos for decades! This, from union leaders who allowed the work of Cleaners to be outsourced to private non-union contractors using dangerous chemicals and methods that have never been used before in the history of NYC transit!

  We shouldn’t be surprised that this is the level of “commitment” to safety from union leaders who have long been in bed with Management. Remember, for example, that President Utano and MOW VP John Chiarello refused to lift a finger to force Management to remove loose rail and other debris from elevated track throughout the system that later fell and nearly killed pedestrians in a number of incidents. Utano and Chiarello also refused for months to take any action to force Management to repair broken and warped catwalk areas that could have killed union members. They even admitted they refused to do anything out of spite because Local 100 Fightback publicized these conditions instead of begging them privately for action!

7.   The empty words of a “Labor-Management Committee to discuss potential set-aside work for pregnant women and disabled workers.”

  We need contractual guarantees providing members who are pregnant or disabled with safe work positions. It’s not complicated. The MTA is in violation of any standard of “reasonable accommodation” for these members. They have been sued successfully in court and the union is currently suing them over this exact issue. How could Utano & Co. bring us another contract that fails to solve this? Not to mention the gross corruption that is going unaddressed where MTA Management has for decades violated NYS Civil service law by hiring people by resumé. Similarly unchecked will be MTA Managers’ rewarding friends, family members and sexual partners with light duty assignments while forcing injured workers into unemployment by claiming no light duty assignments were available in their title.

8.    New York Paid Family Leave

  The proposed contract states that “As soon as practicable … members will be eligible for NYS Paid Family Leave. Employers to deduct statutory amounts from wages (as capped by law). Parties to form Joint Labor Management Committee to discuss issues related to interplay between NYS Paid Family Leave and contractual entitlements/FMLA, which will precede implementation.” But the union isn’t explaining how much members could see deducted from their paychecks, and the contract offers no protections from management pushing to take away existing benefits. Members will be denied the democratic right to vote on those specifics and are expected to trust what the Local 100 leadership agrees to.

9.    Car Equipment Productivity Committee

  This is Management-speak for more work for the same or less money. More job duties added to job titles with no increase in pay. And more work done by fewer workers always leads to job cuts!

10.  What Gains for RTO?

  The two most important “gains” that our RTO leadership is saying they won are subject to further negotiations or are the subject of some Committee that hasn't even been created yet:

• The RTO cellphone policy language patterned on the policy in Busses is not written yet and is subject to further meetings;
• The RTO Disciplinary changes they are bragging about are also subject to further negotiations.

  This is not how you negotiate contract language. Everything has to be spelled out in detail or we can’t hold Management to anything! Are we really supposed to trust our union officers that they will get the language right? And as with all of these side agreements and negotiations with Management, if this Contract passes RTO members will not get a vote on what they come up with.

  Then there’s the agreement to create a “Standing Grievance and Discipline Committee,” with 2 union and 2 management appointees, “to address areas of concern regarding the Grievance and Discipline process.” “Any changes with regard to Contractual procedures will require mutual agreement in writing in order to be effective” This means that management will be able to veto any changes and 4 people will decide what they think are fair changes to the Discipline and Grievance process for nearly 40,000 transit workers. We will not have a chance to vote on any of these changes until the next contract. This denies us some of our most basic rights as union members.

What’s at Stake in this Contract Vote?

  The Utano leadership showed throughout these contract negotiations they want union members kept on the sidelines,  passively accepting whatever deals they make with the MTA bosses and Governor Cuomo behind our backs. They have done everything possible to silence the membership and even had to be dragged kicking and screaming by the members into calling a single contract rally that they tried for avoid for 5½ months.

  Utano & Co. did nothing during that time to encourage members to take action to enforce their contractual rights and shut down unsafe work. Members who did organize to do that were abandoned by their elected RTO leaders under orders from Tony Utano! When members in multiple departments banded together to organize a transit worker unity rally at 2 Broadway and take on the MTA Board directly, their union leadership called them “unelected troublemakers” and encouraged workers not to attend.

  A Yes vote will mean real cuts in our wages, hikes in our health insurance costs, job cuts and more unsafe work. What’s more, Utano & Co. will claim that a Yes vote shows support for their undemocratic, sellout leadership and its continued collaboration with Cuomo and MTA management's attacks on our union and every other working-class person in this city.

Vote NO on Utano, Cuomo, and MTA Management’s Wage-Cutting, Giveback Contract! And let’s continue the work of building a new leadership for our union.

How we can stop a sellout & build a real fightback

Next Steps After October 30

Local 100 members: to defend our jobs, wages and working conditions, we’re going to have to take this contract fight into own hands.

With Governor Cuomo pushing them, the MTA is demanding contract givebacks that will have a devastating effect on our jobs, wages and working conditions.

Despite the seriousness of these attacks, however, the Utano leadership of our union waited almost six months after our contract expired before they bothered to hold a contract rally. Worse still, Utano is making it clear that instead of our October 30 rally being the start of a fightback, he’s planning for it to be his first and last act of fake struggle before he begs for a deal that he thinks he can force the members to accept.

The Wall Street Journal (October 21) reported that Utano gave them an interview in which he made his plans clear: “Local 100 leader Tony Utano says he might turn to Gov. Andrew Cuomo … if [the] evening show of force … outside the MTA’s headquarters on Oct. 30 doesn’t push the authority to resolve the standoff.”

Turn to Cuomo? The last time Utano did that, Cuomo vetoed the modest Tier 6 pension reform that the union had been pushing. The fact is that the man leading the attack on us, MTA Chair and CEO Patrick Foye, was chosen for the position by Cuomo and is taking his orders from him.

If we let Utano end our contract struggle before it’s begun and allow him to try to make a deal with Cuomo, we know what to expect. In his decades as a union official Utano has supported the 2% medical payment, the 5 year wage progression, the surrender of our no-layoff clause, the Tier 6 pension rip-off and the outsourcing Local 100 members’ work to private contractors in Stations and CED. So we can be sure he’ll try to stick us with another sellout this time and then tell us that it was the best deal possible.

Thankfully, Local 100’s members don’t have to follow Utano’s strategy of defeat. We can use the October 30 rally to start a real fightback that mobilizes our power to save our jobs, wages and working conditions.

BUILDING THE FIGHTBACK AFTER OCTOBER 30

1. Motions in Divisions

Step One in thwarting moves by Utano & Co. to make a sellout deal is getting this motion in support of the Executive Board calling a General Membership Meeting and a strike against givebacks passed in a majority of the union’s Divisions in the coming month. If you support the motion, talk about it with other members and get them to attend their next Division meeting in the largest possible numbers to get the motion passed. It will stop Utano & Co. from agreeing to any givebacks and give the members the power to decide on the way forward in a General Membership Meeting.

The motion makes it clear that members will support a strike until the MTA withdraws its demands for givebacks and until Local 100 is granted amnesty from any Taylor Law penalties. Of course, many members are understandably wary of striking under Utano & Co. But building a credible threat to strike is essential to us having any hope of forcing Cuomo and the MTA to back down. And if there is a strike, the same organizing and pressure by members that forced Utano & Co. to call it can also thwart moves to sell us out.

2. Organizing to Enforce Safety

There’s more. We all know that the Taylor Law forbids any “concerted action” in pursuit of contractual demands. But we do have the right to shut down unsafe work so long as it is only done in the interests of workers’ and riders’ safety. But especially in subways, we all know that the system is rife with conditions that violate State and Federal health and safety laws, but which our union leaders fail to shut down.

Nothing shows management’s lack of respect for us more than the way they have us work in unsafe conditions. Our union officials’ tolerance for this invites further disrespect, such as with the MTA’s current demands for givebacks.

But with a boost in fighting spirit after October 30, there will be the chance for members to get organized to start shutting down unsafe work. That way we’ll show Cuomo and the MTA that we’re putting a stop to their disrespect. That sort of organizing and action will mean that Cuomo and the MTA take the threat of us striking seriously.

3. Winning Public Support

Governor Cuomo and the MTA are as popular as turds in a swimming pool. They deserve the public’s hatred – their hypocrisy is outrageous. While demanding pay cuts from us and fare hikes from the riding public, just months ago Cuomo got himself a 40% raise, while the mostly rich white powerbrokers on the MTA board enjoy an average income ten times that of the typical transit rider! 

New York transit riders’ anger at poor service and rising fares coincides with the rising anger across the country at the ever-widening wealth gap between the super-rich and the working class, and they have a shared cause. The dirty secret of the New York transit system’s crisis is that state and city politicians deliberately underfund the MTA in order to force it to raise funds by selling bonds to Wall Street investors. The MTA has to make regular payments on profits to those investors, and they get to enjoy those profits tax free!

The MTA’s debt limit is now at a whopping $123 billion – that’s more debt than most of the world’s nations carry! Its annual profit payments to investors now account for 20% of the MTA’s annual budget – more than it spends on the healthcare and pensions of its workers. And those payments are expected to rise to $3.2 billion a year by 2021!

In other words, it’s the demands for profits by do-nothing Wall Street investors that lie behind Cuomo’s attacks on our wages and working conditions, and it’s what lies behind the MTA inflicting fare hikes, service cuts and general misery on the riding public. Imagine how popular Local 100 would be if it ended its leaders’ alliance with Cuomo and threw its resources into exposing this scandal and added opposition to fare hikes and service cuts to its contract demands!

4. Building an Alternative Leadership to Utano & Co. 

Our proposals for motions in Divisions and a General Membership Meeting to thwart a sellout by Utano & Co. and force them to mobilize a real contract struggle can win important victories. But we’re under no illusions: our proposals aim at making the best of a bad situation and we’ll face the danger of being sold out for as long as we’re stuck with our current leadership.

That’s why, as we unite in the broadest possible struggle against Cuomo and the MTA’s demands for givebacks, we appeal to our fellow Local 100 members to get in touch with Local 100 Fightback so we can start working together to build a new leadership for our union based on the principles of union democracy, working-class struggle, and the aims of social justice.

E-mail: Local100Fightback@gmail.com

Website: www.Local100Fightback.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Local100Fightback/

Let’s Get This Motion Passed in Every Division!

Utano & Co. are looking to make a deal that will cost us jobs, wages and working conditions. But Local 100 members have rights that empower us to stop a sellout. Our union’s Bylaws are clear: the members can make binding decisions on the union’s policies by passing motions in a majority of the union’s Divisions or by doing so in a General Membership Meeting. So let’s get the following motion passed in all Divisions this coming month. (It already got unanimous support in a Train Operators’ Division meeting.)

If officers try to say you can only get a motion put on the agenda for the following month, don’t let them fool anyone! It’s a lie. That’s not in the Bylaws. Members have the right to vote for any motion they want in Division meetings!

And don’t let them try any tricks with the motion like changing “General Membership Meeting” to “Mass Meeting” – only General Membership Meetings are recognized in the Bylaws as giving the members the right to pass motions that are binding on the union.

* * *

“Whereas: Governor Cuomo and the MTA are demanding outrageous givebacks and other attacks including:

• a real-wage cut through below-inflation 2% “raises,” attacks on overtime and doubling our health insurance payments
• cuts to sick time and vacation time
• the replacement of full-time Local 100 jobs with part-time positions and private non-union labor, and
• even layoffs.

Be it resolved that: 

1. this Division considers these and any other givebacks completely unacceptable;

2. if the MTA does not withdraw its demands for givebacks completely, then in accordance with Local 100’s Bylaws (Section X, “Strikes and Job Action”) this Division will wholeheartedly support the Local 100 Executive Board making a decision to declare a strike until the MTA withdraws its demands for givebacks and until Local 100 is granted amnesty from any Taylor Law penalties; and 

3. before any tentative contractual agreement is reached with the MTA, the Executive Board shall convene a General Membership Meeting in accordance with Local 100’s Bylaws, so that the members may decide on the way forward by raising motions and voting on them.”

All Out for October 30!

All Out for October 30!

Show Cuomo & the MTA We’re Up for a Fight

Show Utano & Co. We Won’t Accept a Sellout

MTA President Byford rightfully called us “miracle workers” for how we make the transit system run. But now that it’s contract time, instead of a “thank you” from the MTA, they’re giving us a “F*** You!”

With Governor Cuomo pushing them, the MTA is demanding that we accept unprecedented contract givebacks that would see our standard of living plummet. They want to:
• cut our take-home pay by hiking our health insurance payments, sticking us with below-inflation 2% wage “raises” and cutting our overtime payments;
• cut our sick time and vacation time; and
• kill jobs through layoffs and by replacing full-time union jobs with part-time positions and the non-union labor of private contractors.

And more than just our future is at stake. In New York City, transit is one of the few remaining sources of decent-paying jobs for working-class people, and racism makes that’s especially true for Blacks, Latinos and immigrants. Cuomo and the MTA’s attacks aim to kill the dream of a better life for all, and especially for people of color. We mustn’t let them.

WE WON’T BE LED LIKE LAMBS TO A SLAUGHTER!

Despite the seriousness of these attacks, our union’s leaders are not even planning for the October 30 rally to be the beginning of a fightback. Utano & Co. are planning for the rally to be the last thing they do before they try to make a sellout deal.

On October 30, President Utano and his minions expect us to act like sheep as they herd us into “their” rally. They expect us to listen cluelessly while they pretend to be putting up a fight. Then they hope to join management at the negotiating table to agree on the extent that our wages, jobs and working conditions will be slaughtered.

Utano made this clear in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (October 21) which reported: “Transport Workers Union Local 100 leader Tony Utano says he might turn to Gov. Andrew Cuomo … if [the] evening show of force by an expected 10,000 workers outside the MTA’s headquarters on Oct. 30 doesn’t push the authority to resolve the standoff.”

Utano’s idea that Cuomo might help us is a cruel joke. The last time Cuomo responded to Utano’s request for involvement in Local 100’s affairs, the governor vetoed the modest Tier 6 pension reform that the union had been pushing! The fact is that the man leading the attack on us, MTA Chair and CEO Patrick Foye, was chosen for the position by Cuomo and is taking his orders from him.

No one should be surprised by Utano’s hopeless strategy. He’s been a union official for decades and during that time he supported every giveback contract including the ones with the 2% medical payment, the 5 year wage progression, the surrender of the no-layoff clause, and many more. He supported the Tier 6 pension rip-off, body-cams on C/Rs, and outsourcing Local 100 members’ work to private contractors in Stations and CED.

Since our contract expired Utano & Co. have let six months go by without lifting a finger to prepare us to defend our wages, jobs and working conditions from the MTA’s attacks. During that time, they’ve offered the MTA a variety of concessions. The problem is that the MTA hasn’t budged on its demands for givebacks that the members will never accept. Utano & Co. fear that if they agree to a deal that’s too bad, a rebellion by the members would sweep them out of their highly-paid positions. So negotiations have reached a stalemate.

But Local 100’s members don’t have to follow Utano’s strategy of defeat. We can use the October 30 rally to build a fightback that can defeat Cuomo’s and the MTA’s attacks.

OCTOBER 30 IS OUR CHANCE

For as long as our officials can’t get a deal with the MTA that they think they can force us to accept, we have a chance to defeat Utano & Co.’s plans to sell us out and instead organize a struggle that can force Cuomo and the MTA to back off from their attacks.

If we show Utano & Co. that we are united against givebacks and are demanding all-out effort to defend our wages, jobs and working conditions, we can make them even more afraid of the consequences of selling out. And if we make Cuomo and the MTA fear that our anger will break out into action on the job, it could force them to back off.

October 30 is our biggest chance to do this by members showing up in force with signs that send both Cuomo and the MTA, as well as Utano & Co., two clear messages:

If Cuomo and the MTA don’t back down,

we are ready to STRIKE

and

We will not accept:

• health insurance hikes

• below inflation wage “raises”

• cuts to our sick time, overtime or vacation time

• the use of part-time non-union jobs

instead of full-time union jobs• or layoffs

All those demands for givebacks are reasons to STRIKE!

BUILDING THE FIGHTBACK AFTER OCTOBER 30

Of course, our efforts to build a fightback against Cuomo and the MTA’s attacks can’t stop with October 30. If we succeed in sending the message that we’ll fight any givebacks, the confidence of members will be given a big boost and it will lay the basis for further organizing and action.

1.  Motions in Divisions

One important way to take the fight forward will be to have motions passed in Divisions that make clear that the members reject the MTA’s demands for givebacks and will support a strike if the MTA does not drop them. Already, Train Operators in one Division meeting have shown their unanimous support for such a motion. And remember: according to our union’s Bylaws, if a majority of the union’s Divisions adopt a position, it becomes the union’s official policy and the leadership is bound to respect it!

2.  Organizing to Enforce Safety

And there’s more. We all know that the Taylor Law forbids any “concerted action” in pursuit of contractual demands that interfere with normal work. But we do have the right to shut down unsafe work so long as it is only done in the interests of workers’ and riders’ safety. And we all know that the system is rife with conditions that violate state and federal health and safety laws, but which our union leaders do nothing to shut down.

With a boost in confidence and fighting spirit after October 30, there will be the chance for members to get organized to start shutting down unsafe work. That way we’ll show Cuomo and the MTA that we’re putting a stop to their disrespect. That sort of organizing and action will mean that Cuomo and the MTA take the threat of us striking seriously.

Of course, many members are wary of striking under Utano & Co. There is a real danger of us being sold out. But building a credible threat to strike is essential if we are to force Cuomo and the MTA to back down. And if there is a strike, the same organizing and pressure by members can thwart moves to sell us out. In this, one important thing will be to learn from our last strike and make sure that one of the demands of the strike is an amnesty from all Taylor Law penalties.

IT’S WRONG THAT SOME OPPOSITIONISTS ARE SAYING THEY WON’T GO ON OCTOBER 30

Because Utano & Co. are so obviously planning on selling us out, some oppositionists are saying that they won’t go to the October 30 rally. We are sure they have the best intentions and are saying this because they don’t want to collaborate with Utano & Co.’s betrayals. But they are very wrong.

October 30 will give members a chance to fight a sellout. Boycotting it means abandoning the members to Utano & Co.’s plans instead of helping the members challenge them. And a weak rally would be a show of weakness that will encourage Cuomo and the MTA to attack us even harder.

Oppositionists mistakenly threatening to boycott October 30 would do well to learn from the history of workers’ struggles under sellout union leaders. It’s a problem that’s as old as unions themselves that the most farsighted and militant workers have already solved. Through their efforts a simple formula evolved: never stop telling the truth and criticizing leaders and would-be leaders when they are doing wrong, but always stand for the unity of the members in action whenever the union leaders take a step forward against the bosses.

That’s one of the key principles of Local 100 Fightback as we work to build an alternative leadership for our union. It’s consistent with the fact that we stand for a democratic union in which the leaders are accountable to the members. And that’s why Local 100 Fightback is organized democratically, with its policies decided by its members meeting and voting.

Members should take note of the fact that we are the only opposition to Utano & Co. that is organized in this democratic way. Oppositions that are led from the top down without the members deciding on policy will only ever reproduce the same problems of unaccountable leaders that the members are looking to overcome.

All this is reason for militant workers to get in contact with us so we can start working together, starting with the October 30 rally.