PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Militant Transit Union Local Gears-Up For Illegal Strike
by Rovin' Workman and Johnny Monongahela Monday, Dec. 16, 2002 at 3:39 AM

This article discusses recent events in NYC surrounding the Transit Workers Union, which has threatened to go out on strike, and a short history of the New Directions caucus.

Members of the Transit Workers Union (TWU), Local 100, have been readying themselves for a huge battle. This battle is not only against the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), but the State of New York and its capitalist cronies. Come this week, if a new contract is not agreed upon, New York City may grind to a standstill.

While TWU Local 100 is trying to negotiate a new contract with intransigent management, injunctions have been obtained by the MTA and billionaire Mayor,
Michael Bloomberg, to prevent workers from striking under New York State's Taylor Act, which prohibits public sector employees from going on strike.

Not only can workers be found in contempt of court and imprisoned for violating the injunction, but under the Taylor Act, they will be fined two days pay for each day they are out on strike. Mayor Bloomberg has also sought damages in the form of $25,000 per day from each worker on strike. With legislation like this, it is clear that the capitalists fear TWU Local 100.

Taxi cab drivers and railroad workers in other unions have pledged to honor the picket lines and support the striking subway and bus workers.

What made the radical stance of TWU Local 100 possible was the rank-and-file workers' support for a radical caucus within the TWU called New Directions. Sick and tired of being sold-out by their leaders, in December of 2000, sixty percent of Local 100's members voted for the New Directions slate. This radical caucus is so threatening to the TWU national leadership that there has been talk the local would be placed in trusteeship.


Labor activists hope that Local 100 is serious about preparing itself for a strike, and its President, Rodger Toussaint, is not just seeking to use the threat of unrest as a tactic to get a slightly better contract. Members of New Directions have criticized him for being too accommodating toward the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and for stifling alternative viewpoints within the local. Some members of the Executive Board of Local 100 have published the "Rank-and-File Advocate," critical of Toussaint, but supportive of the overall direction in which the union has been moving.

In a June 2002 article in Labor Notes, TWU Local 100 VP Tim Schermerhorn is quoted as saying:

"The current leadership has done far more to prepare for this contract fight than the previous leadership would have. This makes us stronger. However,
the lack of democratic discussion around strategic decisions in waging the fight and the isolation of officers and members who have led fights in the past
weakens us."

Local 100 officers do agree that far reaching changes must be made, as not only are the contract terms offered by the MTA reprehensible, but the MTA has been endangering lives with lack of regard for safety standards, and has been trying to keep the workers in line with a record number of disciplinary actions.

A successful strike, where rank-and-file workers mobilize to strike at the economic heart of New York, and win real gains in peoples lives, despite the state's repressive legislation, would strike a great blow for the labor movement and working people. This potential strike will not only test the strength and legitimacy of a
bottom-up, democratic style of labor organizing, but will strengthen the voices that have been calling for union activity in spite of the law, for a resurgence of concerted activity to win concessions from the boss, no matter what is "legal."

Other workers have gone even further, suggesting that
organizing today cannot rest solely on certification through the NLRB, pushed by capitalists and union bureaucrats, but that a labor movement must be built, maintained, and enforced by direct action by the workers against their bosses.

The New Directions election win in 2000 was the culmination of more than ten years of rank-and-file organizing by its members, which grew out of support
for the newsletter "Hell on Wheels."

The New Directions caucus supported a strike authorization vote in 1999, against the union's leadership and a court injunction obtained by then-Mayor Giuliani. Many of New Directions' members have been involved with revolutionary socialist groups such as Solidarity (a multi-tendency organization), and the publication Labor Notes, which has advocated for a return to union militancy and increased accountability of union officers to the body of workers they claim to represent.

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Don't blame the workers
by R. Workman Monday, Dec. 16, 2002 at 4:37 AM

Here is a link to an article detailing some of the ridiculous provisions in the expired contract, as well as the MTA's behavior.

http://www.twulocal100.org/news/media/showstory.php?storyid=114

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