OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION|AFL-CIO/CLC SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 UNITY BREEDS SUCCESS INTERNATIONAL PROVIDES ESSENTIAL SUPPORT IN THE FIGHT FOR TRANSIT WORKERS ACROSS US AND CANADA TRANSIT FUNDING PRIVATIZATION LEGISLATION HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING ORGANIZING PENSIONS BUS DRIVER BATHROOM ASSAULTS BREAKS INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS LAWRENCE J. HANLEY International President JAVIER M. PEREZ, JR. NEWSBRIEFS International Executive Vice President OSCAR OWENS Milwaukee transit workers ratify new contract International Secretary-Treasurer After a 3-day strike, the rejection of two contract offers, and months INTERNATIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS of stalled negotiations, Milwaukee transit workers finally ratified a new 3-year contract with the Milwaukee Country Transit System LARRY R. KINNEAR Ashburn, ON – [email protected] (MCTS). “Milwaukee’s transit system is the economic backbone of RICHARD M. MURPHY the region. We will always fight for a fair contract that puts our Newburyport, MA – [email protected] riders first, retains full-time, professional transit workers and moves BOB M. HYKAWAY Milwaukee forward,” says James Macon, president of Local 998, Calgary, AB – [email protected] representing the workers. The new contract included steady wage increases and the transit JANIS M. BORCHARDT system’s pledge not to hire part-time drivers, a big sticking point in the labor dispute. Madison, WI – [email protected] PAUL BOWEN Canton, MI – [email protected] Local 107, ATU Canada rewards man KENNETH R. KIRK for act of kindness Lancaster, TX – [email protected] With school shootings, the growing refugee crisis and other bad GARY RAUEN news in this world, random acts of kindness usually go unnoticed. Clayton, NC – [email protected] But a man in Hamilton, ON became the toast of the Internet after MARCELLUS BARNES he held hands with a man with special needs on a public bus. Flossmore, IL – [email protected] A photo of his touching gesture was posted on Facebook and RAY RIVERA immediately went viral. Local 107 and ATU Canada wanted to Lilburn, GA – [email protected] acknowledge the man, a 21-year-old student, for his kindness and presented him with a check YVETTE TRUJILLO Thornton, CO – [email protected] to help pay for his education. GARY JOHNSON, SR. Cleveland, OH – [email protected] Show your ATU pride, new items on ROBIN WEST Halifax, NS – [email protected] ATU online store JOHN COSTA We’ve added some cool new items on to the ATU online store. Kenilworth, NJ – [email protected] Everyone could use a sporty new camp shirt and never lose your CHUCK WATSON keys with an ATU bus keychain. There’s also a great ATU lapel pin Syracuse, NY – [email protected] and even an ATU spiral notebook to keep important notes. There CLAUDIA HUDSON are plenty of other items too, including an awesome mechanic’s Oakland, CA – [email protected] shirt, the comfortable polar fleece, and our member favorite leather BRUCE HAMILTON jacket. There’s something for everyone in your household. So show your ATU pride and shop at New York, NY – [email protected] the ATU online store at http://atu.imagepointe.com/atu/ MICHELLE SOMMERS Brooklyn Park, MN – [email protected] INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS EMERITUS ANTHONY WITHINGTON Sebastopol, CA – [email protected] International President Jim La Sala, ret. International President Warren George, ret. DENNIS ANTONELLIS Spokane, WA – [email protected] International Executive Vice President Ellis Franklin, ret. STEPHAN MACDOUGALL International Executive Vice President Mike Siano, ret. Boston, MA – [email protected] ANTHONY GARLAND Subscription: USA and Canada, $5 a year. Single copy: 50 cents. All others: $10 a year. Published bimonthly by the Washington, DC – [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. ANTONETTE BRYANT ISSN: 0019-3291. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40033361.RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES Oakland, CA – [email protected] TO:APC Postal Logistics, LLC, PO Box 503, RPO, West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill ON L4B 4R6. SESIL RUBAIN New Carrollton, MD – [email protected] IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 SEPT/OCT 2015 CONTENT Vol. 124, No. 5 15 Survey reveals health and safety concerns of locals 17 School districts facing shortage of school bus drivers 18 Calgary members launch ‘Easy Rider’ campaign to combat assault Winnipeg Locals asks for police on buses 19 ATU HERO: Driver dedicates his hero’s medal PENSIONS ARE A PROMISE THAT THE 4 to man he says is the ‘real hero’ BOSS WANTS TO BREAK 20 ATU joins Nuns on the Bus tour rally in DC The ‘Fight for 15’ is a fight for all workers 21 Vice president helps rollout new Detroit buses Ferguson report: transit key to expanding opportunity 22 HOW THEY DO IT: Milwaukee members, riders call for restoration of transit funding Monroe, LA, members, riders form coalition to LOCALS HONE SKILLS AT BARGAINING AND 16 push for transit funding CONTRACT CAMPAIGNS TRAININGS ATU pleased MO governor’s RTW veto sustained Phoenix bus drivers reject poor contract offer 24 Even AAA says Americans want more 2 International Officers & General Executive Board public transportation ATU wins ILCA labor press awards Study reveals 75% of Americans support 3 Index Page using tax money for transit 6 Safe US Bus Funding Campaign kicks 25 Aspen Local concerned about possible hiring into high gear of TransDev negotiator 7 Legislative Agenda: Punching Back 26 Jackson transit workers decry “Outsourcing” of JATRAN 8 Niagara Coalition puts ‘Union that makes things happen’ motto into practice 27 TARTA to provide bus service for Toledo public schools 9 International President’s Message: This is your Union 10-year old boy sets an example for all 10 International Executive Vice President’s 28 Translations (Spanish) Message: Mobile app-based transit - Save the Date - 58th International Convention should we care? 31 In Memoriam 11 International Secretary-Treasurer’s Message: 32 ATU Makes Historic Move to New Headquarters ATU must lead - whether we like it or not 12 New Organizing Victories from Coast to Coast 14 ATU’s bathroom break fight bringing changes to transit industry, but much more progress needed IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 3 Pensions are a Promise That The Boss Wants to Break HOW AND WHY ATU LOCAL 836 IS FIGHTING BACK AND IMPACTS ALL MEMBERS Step back in time to the United States of 1934. The great stock market crash of 1929 had decimated the savings of millions of workers, and the federal government was scrambling to find a way to get working families back on their feet. For older Americans, the picture was especially bleak. More than 50% of senior citizens lived below the poverty line and opportunities to make new income were almost non-existent. In 1935, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law to create a safety net that would at least ensure those who had devoted their lives to working hard wouldn’t end up on the streets. Since its creation, it Grand Rapids, transit CEO Peter Varga plans to rob workers of their has been celebrated as one of the most successful federal pensions even as he gets a hefty raise. programs in American history. Today, fewer than 10% of seniors live in poverty. bottom line of history and focus only on the bottom But Social Security has been far from perfect. After its line for this fiscal year. creation, it left almost half of American workers without Right now, ATU members at Local 836 in Grand Rapids, protection. Many women, people of color, government MI, are fighting these anti-worker and anti-senior forces. employees, farm laborers, teachers and nurses were not For more than 30 years, bus drivers and mechanics there covered by the act. Even after decades of expansion, those have earned and retired with a modest defined benefit who receive payments today have a very hard time keeping pension. Market bubbles burst, stocks collapsed and pace with the cost of living, especially as healthcare, recovered, recessions came and went, but their pension housing, and transportation costs explode in cities today. endured while other plans – like 401Ks or other defined contribution schemes–evaporated. Thanks to long, hard struggles fought by unionized workers for generations including ATU, retiring Defined benefit pension plans are strong because the Americans have been able to able to add to their Social risk of the market is diffused across a large pool of Security payments with a defined benefit pension. participants and their employer. Defined contribution plans, on the other hand, shift all of the risk onto the individual employee. Public sector bosses like Grand Pensions and social security Rapids transit system CEO Peter Varga love this, arguing under attack that it is the “wave of the future” and more “fiscally responsible.” Anyone who has read a history book, however, These two sources of income combined have provided a knows the truth: this is a return to an old America when secure, dignified retirement for millions of our neighbors. people worked until they died or were disabled on the But today, both are being assaulted by political parties job, when seniors pushed out of the workplace stood on and public and private sector bosses who ignore the bread lines instead of fighting their old boss. 4 September/October 2015 | IN TRANSIT IN TRANSIT | www.atu.org 5 But the 300 members at Local 836 aren’t just fighting University’s United Students Against Sweatshops chapter for a secure retirement, but a better one. organized a “flash mob” to interrupt the city’s major art festival and show support for Local 836 members.