La Lutta NMC: Transport Workers Union

We Will Not Be Dishonored

Words by Antonino D'Ambrosio, La Lutta NMC

October 30, 2002
New York, NY

These were the words that rang out across a cold, wet Manhattan street during a rally of the Transport Workers Union. The speaker was Roger Toussaint, the charismatic and determined TWU president. Over 10,000 strong, committed and united TWU faithful rallied today at 44th street and Madison Avenue in front of the New York City Metropolitan Transit AuthorityÕs headquarters. They rallied there late on the afternoon of October 30, 2002 to let the MTA know that the only acceptable outcome of current union/management negotiations is a fair, equitable and just contract.

The rally was preceded by a march that saw an increasingly growing and enthusiastic crowd spill into the streets chanting, ÒWe are a Union! Mighty! Mighty Union!Ó and ÒMTA Find A Way!Ó

MTA must find a way, or New York City will face a transit workers strike that would shut this City down. New York has the largest subway system in the world, and past strikesÑlike the 13-day-long 1966 strike and the 11day strike in 1980Ñcrippled the city. If anyone could make this happen, it is the TWU under the leadership of Toussaint: a throwback to powerful labor leaders from days gone by in a City that has always been a fiercely loyal union town.

To avert a strike, the TWU has made its demands clear and simple: The MTA must negotiate in good faith and provide a decent, fair contract that includes a living wage, benefits with child care, a strong retirement plan, no give-backs, and of course, dignity and respect. Believe it or not, it may be the latter that the MTA will refuse to deliver on. The transit workers of this city, who are responsible for moving over seven million people everyday, are grossly underpaid and receive little in the way of what most of us would call ÒbenefitsÓ. What else could this represent besides a complete disregard and disrespect of a labor force that remarkably kept this city moving both during and after the 9/11 tragedy.

Under the usual threats of job cuts, privatization and the attempt by the MTAÑwith the threat of a fair increaseÑto turn straphangers and the public at large against the TWU, Toussaint and the TWU have put together a truly grassroots campaign to galvanize the rank and file. The groundswell of solidarity has helped the TWU garner support from nearly every Union and labor leader across New York State, along with key politicians including Charles Rangel. Rangel, the longstanding New York Congressman and ranking member of the House Ways and Means committee, spoke at todayÕs rally and described the treatment of the transit workers and workers throughout this country as tantamount to ÔterrorismÓ.

The crowd shouted its approval as Rangel exclaimed in his trademark raspy voice, ÒThe current treatment of the transit workers and working people throughout this country represents terrorism. ÉWhen you donÕt have a living wage, decent health care, child care or a pension plan: That is terrorismÓ. Others politicians showing their support included Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver and New York City Council member Roger Green.

Green also received a rousing response from the crowd when he described the state of an economy Òwith nearly 42 % of the wealth of this country controlled by 1% of its peopleÉthere is nothing left for the working people like the New York City transit workersÓ. Quoting Martin Luther King, Jr, Green ended by stating Òinjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and the treatment you are receiving from the MTA is a severe injusticeÓ.

According to Toussaint, no truer statement can describe the terrible state the transit workers find themselves in. The MTA has instituted a near oppressive disciplinary program, grossly underpays its workers in comparison to similar positions held by those at Metro-NorthÑproviding essentially Ôpoverty wagesÕ. In addition, the MTA maintains a benefits program that hardly anyone connected with the TWU would call beneficial. For example, the MTA is asking their workers to incur more of the expense of its health plan and pay more into its retirement program while taking a drastic pay-cut. On top of this, the work conditions the TWU are exposed to have become more and more unsafe. Unfortunately, what has been lost in most media coverage is that the TWU is simply struggling to get back what they had lost ten years ago via givebacks by weak leadership and terrible contracts.

Finally, while a December 15th deadline looms, the TWU has become one of the most important, organized and progressive labor unions in the country. The TWUÕs leadership, members and overall campaign for living wages and a decent, just contract has become symbolic of new movement borrowing heavily from the labor movements of 70 years ago. A rank and file leader struggling to give voice to the needs of the men and women who move this city provides all of us connected with this movement a sense of dignity, respect, and hope in a time when we all need it most.

Note: Antonino DÕAmbrosio of La Lutta NMC, the author, is working with People-Link in providing critical new media services for the Transport Workers Union as they struggle for a new contract. Please check www.lalutta.org, www.twulocal100.org, and www.savethefare.org.