OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION | AFL-CIO/CLC SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014 LOCKED OUT IN SASKATOON WORKERS KEEP STRONG RESOLVE INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS LAWRENCE J. HANLEY International President JAVIER M. PEREZ, JR. NEWSBRIEFS International Executive Vice President OSCAR OWENS Bus driver pepper-sprayed while International Secretary-Treasurer breaking up fight Another day, another attack. This time it was in Winnipeg, MB, INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS which has already seen it’s fair share of vicious attacks. The driver LARRY R. KINNEAR in this case was trying to break up a fight and ended up getting Ashburn, ON – [email protected] the worst of it. The fight broke out between passengers on his RICHARD M. MURPHY bus and when the driver stepped in, a man pepper sprayed him Newburyport, MA – [email protected] before taking off. Thankfully for the driver, citizens in the area BOB M. HYKAWAY came to his aid. Calgary, AB – [email protected] WILLIAM G. McLEAN Reno, NV – [email protected] JANIS M. BORCHARDT Canadian CEO-to-worker pay ratio among highest Madison, WI – [email protected] PAUL BOWEN The gap between CEO earnings and workers’ pay is wider in Canton, MI – [email protected] Canada than almost anywhere else in the world, according to KENNETH R. KIRK recent data. Canadian CEOs on average earn 206 times as much Lancaster, TX – [email protected] as the average worker. That’s the second-largest gap among the GARY RAUEN 17 countries surveyed. Not surprisingly the United States ranks Clayton, NC – [email protected] first. CEO pay in Canada jumped 11 percent in 2013, quadrupling MARCELLUS BARNES income growth for the country as a whole. The median pay for a Flossmore, IL – [email protected] CEO of a publicly traded company in Canada was $5.6 million. RAY RIVERA Lilburn, GA – [email protected] YVETTE SALAZAR Thornton, CO – [email protected] GARY JOHNSON, SR. Cleveland, OH – [email protected] Vancouver to test bus driver shields ROBIN WEST The beating of a Halifax bus driver trying to break up a fight, Halifax, NS – [email protected] and a Washington DC bus operator getting slashed by a knife, JOHN COSTA are just two of the growing number of vicious attacks on transit Kenilworth, NJ – [email protected] workers. Vancouver’s TransLink has decided to take action to help CHUCK WATSON stop and prevent these needless attacks. They will be launching Syracuse, NY – [email protected] a pilot project to install bus driver barrier shields on a number of CLAUDIA HUDSON buses toward the end of this year. ATU has been engaged in a Oakland, CA – [email protected] campaign to stop these violent attacks on transit workers across BRUCE HAMILTON North America including releasing the recent report, “Ripped from New York, NY – [email protected] the Headlines: Bus Drivers Under Attack”. MICHELLE SOMMERS Brooklyn Park, MN – [email protected] INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES ANTHONY WITHINGTON INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS EMERITUS Sebastopol, CA – [email protected] DENNIS ANTONELLIS International President Jim La Sala, ret. Spokane, WA – [email protected] International President Warren George, ret. STEPHAN MACDOUGALL International Executive Vice President Ellis Franklin, ret. Boston, MA – [email protected] International Executive Vice President Mike Siano, ret. ANTHONY GARLAND Washington, DC – [email protected] ANTONETTE BRYANT Subscription: USA and Canada, $5 a year. Single copy: 50 cents. All others: $10 a year. Published bimonthly by the Oakland, CA – [email protected] Amalgamated Transit Union, Editor: Shawn Perry, Designer: Paul A. Fitzgerald.Editorial Office: 5025 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20016-4139. Tel: 1-202-537-1645. Please send all requests for address changes to the ATU Registry Dept. ISSN: 0019-3291. 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MICHAEL MAHAR Rexdale, ON - [email protected] IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 SEPT/OCT 2014 CONTENT Vol. 123, No. 5 12 ATU Flag Flown at New York Climate March 13 ‘Bombshell’ Report Cites Mistrust As Main Problem in BART Strike 14 DC Members Pound the Pavement Against Privatization ATU Camel Helps Grand Rapids Members Register Voters Toledo Members Protest Service Cuts SASKATOON MEMBERS LOCKED OUT, STAGE 4 15 Seattle Drivers Have Little or No Time PROTESTS, CHALLENGE LEGALITY OF LOCKOUT for Bathroom Breaks Photo Correction 16 Transit A Factor in U.S. Mayors’ Races, Referendums 17 Bus Passengers ‘Packing Heat’ in Savannah 18 Cincinnati Members Honored for Heroism, Safety DC Train Operator Helps Stop Suicide 19 Report: Utah Transit Authority Dispenses Millions in ‘Sweetheart’ Deals New Law Creates Transparency in Illinois TORONTO MAYORAL RACE A WAR 25 Transit Agencies OF TRANSIT, ATTRITION 20 GOP Filibuster Kills Paycheck Fairness Act - Again Income Inequality Costing Middle-Class Workers 2 International Officers & General Executive Board 21 Mississauga Women Walk for Cancer NEWS Briefs New Health Study: Transit Workers Hurting 3 Index Page Lawsuit Claims Exhaust in Depot Caused Cancer 6 Mississauga Mayoral Hopefuls Talk Transit Too 22 ATU 2014-15 Scholarship Competition Local 1505 Holds Winnipeg Mayoral Candidates’ In Memory of Joe Welch Feet to the Fire on Transit 23 Ray Wallace Scholarship Awardees Laud Labor Movement 7 ATU, Unions Files Grievances Over New Regina Pension Proposal 24 New Officers Receive ATU Training Poll Suggests BC Transit Referendum ‘Winnable’ 26 Federal NDP Promises 15 - 20 Years of Stable Transit Funding 8 Canadian Agenda: Bill to Protect Transit Operators Clears Senate LTC Execs Ask London for Greater Transit Investment 27 London Members Protest Suspensions, 9 International President’s Message: Firing of Assaulted Drivers The Solution to Your Problem is in the Power of Your Membership Translink Chief Gets Big Raise During ‘Pay Freeze’ in BC 10 International Executive Vice President’s Message: Ideas, Respect Makes Us One in Purpose 28 Translations (Spanish) 11 International Secretary-Treasurer’s Message: 31 In Memoriam US Midterm, Canadian Provincial Elections 32 So, Do You Now Think We Should Volunteer are Upon Us to Organize Our Passengers? IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 SASKATOON MEMBERS LOCKED OUT STAGE PROTESTS, CHALLENGE LEGALITY OF LOCKOUT Saskatoon, SK transit workers, members of Local 615, Workers took their case to the Saskatchewan Labour have stood strong despite being locked out by the city over Board charging the city violated labour laws. The board a contract dispute. told the union that they have an “arguable case” in their challenge of the legality of the city’s lockout of their members while the board was considering an earlier unfair labour practice complaint by the local. But the board says that it has not yet determined whether the municipality broke the law. The delay in making a decision means that riders will have to fend for themselves and drivers will continue to endure long traffic jams for the foreseeable future. The board did, however, rule favourably on the local’s previous complaint contesting the city council’s unilateral replacement of the transit workers’ defined benefit pension program with a defined contribution plan – a move the local was fighting during contract negotiations. The bus operators, mechanics, and customer service representatives have been working without a new contract The board ordered the city to make no further changes since the end of 2012. The latest chapter in the dispute to the pension. And Local President Jim Yakubowski is began after transit workers overwhelmingly rejected the standing firm on the issue, asserting, “Our members are co- city’s most recent contract offer. owners of this plan, and have, since it’s inception in 1965, put money into this plan.” The relationship between the workers and the agency only got worse when it was learned that Saskatoon city managers and the transit director had received salary Low wages – Low offer increases, while their bus operators, mechanics, and customer service representatives were being denied a Saskatoon transit pay is so low that many of its workers fair contract. qualify for public housing assistance, and the city’s latest 4 September/October 2014 | IN TRANSIT IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 5 to force a settlement,” says Local working diligently, many of them President Yakubowski – a settlement working overtime, just to try and deal subsequently rejected by over 90% of with the increased work load but it’s the local. obvious that we are short staffed.” According to Yakubowski, the city’s The mechanics’ burden is even higher actions “poisoned” their negotiations. in Saskatoon than other cities because “How can you trust an employer that the average age of Saskatoon Transit attempts to insult your intelligence buses is 14.5 years – well above the by directly contacting you, claiming recommended average of six to nine you have not been given all the facts years and above the national average of contract offer would still have left by the very executive you elected?” 11 years. None of this was mentioned them at the bottom of the province’s he asks. in their statement blaming the union. wage scale. “This is not something that just Yakubowski suspects that the city Troubled transit cropped up out of the blue, the was making offers they knew would employer knew full well,” Yakubowski be spurned to move the dispute to The Saskatoon lockout is only the says, “The city was well aware of this the labour board. And the board did latest of the troubles endured by the and for them to blame the union decide to force a vote on the city’s city’s transit riders. and the fact that we haven’t ratified contract proposal in August. At the end of August some Saskatoon a collective agreement yet is just The Saskatchewan FederationTransit service was suspended because disappointing.” of Labour (SFL) agreed with of a lack of mechanics to keep its Yakubowski, accusing Saskatoon of buses maintained.