Steadfast Nyc School Bus Members Continue to Fight to Preserve Employee Protections International Officers Lawrence J
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OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION | AFL-CIO/CLC MARCH / APRIL 2015 STEADFAST NYC SCHOOL BUS MEMBERS CONTINUE TO FIGHT TO PRESERVE EMPLOYEE PROTECTIONS INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS LAWRENCE J. HANLEY International President JAVIER M. PEREZ, JR. NEWSBRIEFS International Executive Vice President OSCAR OWENS International Secretary-Treasurer Iowa bus driver quits after threats INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS Fed up with rowdy behavior and threats from students, a Davenport, LARRY R. KINNEAR IA, bus driver has called it quits. The City offers its CitiBus transit Ashburn, ON – [email protected] service for free to all Davenport students. Drivers and riders say the RICHARD M. MURPHY problem with students has gotten worse. The mayor is urging the Newburyport, MA – [email protected] transit system to clamp down on problem riders by removing them BOB M. HYKAWAY Calgary, AB – [email protected] from buses. JANIS M. BORCHARDT Madison, WI – [email protected] Detroit to hire 100 new bus drivers PAUL BOWEN In some good news out of Motown, Detroit says it wants to hire Canton, MI – [email protected] KENNETH R. KIRK more than 100 bus drivers as part of its efforts to improve public transit Lancaster, TX – [email protected] service across the region. Local 26 welcomed the announcement GARY RAUEN saying it should “definitely take some of the stress off the existing Clayton, NC – [email protected] manpower” and hopes it leads to restoring service that had been cut. MARCELLUS BARNES Flossmore, IL – [email protected] RAY RIVERA Lilburn, GA – [email protected] Enter First Annual ATU Photo Contest! YVETTE TRUJILLO Have a great photo of ATU members on the job, at a protest, rally, or Thornton, CO – [email protected] other event – showing what makes ATU the great union it is today? GARY JOHNSON, SR. Then submit that photo to the First Annual ATU Photo Contest! If not – Cleveland, OH – [email protected] grab your camera or smart phone and start taking pictures that show ROBIN WEST Halifax, NS – [email protected] why you’re proud to be ATU! Submit photos at http://www.atu.org/ JOHN COSTA photo-contest Kenilworth, NJ – [email protected] CHUCK WATSON CORRECTION Syracuse, NY – [email protected] CLAUDIA HUDSON In the last issue of In Transit we reported that the City of Saskatoon “has only given its transit Oakland, CA – [email protected] employees half of the compensation the Local believes it owes, and it appears that issue will BRUCE HAMILTON eventually be taken to court.” New York, NY – [email protected] We should have said that “the City says it will give its transit employees only half of the compensation MICHELLE SOMMERS the Local believes it owes, and it appears that issue will eventually be taken to court.” Brooklyn Park, MN – [email protected] And, from the “It doesn’t rain, it pours” department: We misidentified Saskatchewan Local 615’s INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES local number in the same story! We regret the error. ANTHONY WITHINGTON Sebastopol, CA – [email protected] DENNIS ANTONELLIS INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS EMERITUS Spokane, WA – [email protected] STEPHAN MACDOUGALL International President Jim La Sala, ret. Boston, MA – [email protected] International President Warren George, ret. ANTHONY GARLAND Washington, DC – [email protected] International Executive Vice President Ellis Franklin, ret. ANTONETTE BRYANT International Executive Vice President Mike Siano, ret. Oakland, CA – [email protected] Subscription: USA and Canada, $5 a year. Single copy: 50 cents. All others: $10 a year. Published bimonthly by the CANADIAN DIRECTOR 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. MICHAEL MAHAR ISSN: 0019-3291. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40033361.RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES Rexdale, ON - [email protected] TO:APC Postal Logistics, LLC, PO Box 503, RPO, West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill ON L4B 4R6. IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 MAR/APR 2015 CONTENT Vol. 124, No. 2 13 Labor now fighting RTW laws at city, county levels 14 Protect public transit workers 15 Operators unfairly blamed for accidents caused by bus design flaws 19 Twin cities, Vancouver search for ways to foil fare evasion Toronto transit to drivers: Don’t confront ATU, PROGRESSIVE COALITION SHAKE CHICAGO 8 fare cheats ESTABLISHMENT IN MAYOR’S RACE 20 HOW THEY DO IT: Las Vegas members rally for unity, fairness Seattle Local, coalition question Veolia/ Transdev contract 21 HOW THEY DO IT: Lafayette members urge riders to lobby IN legislature DC-area paratransit workers rally for respect, living wage NYC SCHOOL BUS LOCAL STRUGGLES 16 22 Colorado, Pennsylvania transit workers HAVE LONG HISTORY say... ATU YES! ATU caucuses meeting from May through September 2 International Officers & General Executive Board 23 ATU calls on Baton Rouge transit chief to resign DC Streetcar fires 7 workers involved in ATU NEWS Briefs organizing campaign 3 Index Page 24 Operators save wandering senior in Calgary 4 Canadian cities lobby Ottawa for increase Save the Date - 58th International Convention in public transit funding 25 Toronto Local: Don’t give Bechtel a no-bid Toronto Local fights random drug testing contract for subway project 5 Canadian Council Conference Call Winnipeg members to City: ‘Fix it, fund it, 6 Drivers have the right to be safe too make it fair’ 7 Canadian Agenda: Locals take anti-assault 26 ATU members join Québec City campaign to the streets ‘Act on Climate’ March Halifax Husky hails bus home, doesn’t pay fare 9 International President’s Message: NYC school bus Local fights on for 27 Passenger gets 6 months for threatening to employee protections kill Toronto driver, robbery 10 International Executive Vice President’s Regina president puzzled by bus Message: Do protests matter? lane elimination 11 International Secretary-Treasurer’s Message: 28 Translations (Spanish) Are we going backwards? 31 In Memoriam 12 ‘WE ARE AFRAID’ DC members tell Metro GM 32 Cartoon: ATU.org promotion IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 Canadian cities lobby Ottawa for increase in public transit funding In an effort to increase economic development and reduce time spent in traffic, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) is asking the federal government to budget at least $1 billion per year in predictable long- term funding for public transit over the next 20 – 25 years. Specifically the cities are asking for: • New federal investments of at least $1 billion annually dedicated to municipal transit projects, to be matched by municipal, provincial, and territorial governments for a total program value of $3 billion per year. • Improved predictability and maximization of investment value, by putting this funding on a long-term track with money committed for 15–20 years, on five- year planning cycles. • Allocation of funding based on current and projected transit ridership. The proposal will add to the discussion of the role of the federal government in transit funding, as the country prepares for its national elections in October. v Toronto Local fights random drug testing We oppose any random testing,” says Local President Bob Kinnear, 113-Toronto, ON. “It’s very invasive and I don’t think our people should have to go through it.” That’s all the motivation Toronto members need to continue their grievance against a 2011 Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) decision to add random drug and alcohol testing onto already existing rules requiring pre-employment, reasonable cause, and post-incident testing. Kinnear estimates that it will likely be two or three years before the grievance is resolved. Kinnear argues that drug and alcohol abuse is not a big enough problem at TTC to warrant such a continuous invasive program. Indeed, TTC CEO Andy Byford says that post –incident testing has found “very few instances when you consider how many employees we have and how many miles they cover.” The real problem, Kinnear insists, is driver fatigue: “We know within our industry that the most detrimental thing that detracts from safe operation is sleep deprivation. There are numerous tests out there that would test the individual for alertness, awareness, fatigue and things like that — they are much more relevant to our industry than actual drug testing.” v 4 March/April 2015 | IN TRANSIT IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 5 AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION CANADIAN COUNCIL SYNDICAL UNI DU TRANSPORT CONSEIL CANADIEN 61 INTERNATIONAL BLVD, SUITE 210, REXDALE, ONTARIO M9W 6K4 (416) 679-8846 | (800) 263-0710 | FAX: (416) 679·9195 | WWW.ATUCANADA.CA FIRST CONFERENCE CALL Please be advised that the Annual Conference of the Canadian Council will be held: Wednesday, June 3rd to Saturday, June 6th, 2015 at the Fort Garry Hotel and Conference Center 222 Broadway Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C OR3 Telephone: 204-942-8251 | Toll Free 1-800-665-8088 | Fax: 204-956-2351 EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING Where a Local Union is unable to send a REGISTRATION DATE AND TIME The Executive Board of the Canadian delegate due to financial constraints, upon Conference registration will take place: Council will meet on Monday, June 1st written request to the Canadian Council Tuesday, June 2nd from 5.30 p.m. - 6.30 and Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 beginning at with such proof,the Canadian Council p.m. Wednesday June 3rd from 8:00 a.m. 9:00a.m. each day. will provide the lowest excursion air fare - 9:00 a.m. available or as per C.R.A. standards LOCAL REPORTS per kilometre for use of automobile (the TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015 will be set total which will not exceed the total air When making travel arrangements, aside for the presentation of Local reports. fare) plus 4 nights’ accommodations and please plan to arrive in time to attend Please have a copy of your written report one hundred dollars ($100.00) per day a presentation on the labour history in available for the Secretary to the Board for perdiemfor four (4) days.