Posts tagged “Labor”

88oo School Bus drivers strike in NYC! NYC organizers reach out to SF!

Posted on January 27, 2013

This flier was written by an Advance the Struggle comrade in San Francisco in light of the ongoing school bus drivers strike in New York City. Transit workers play a central role in the reproduction of our labor-powers on a day-to-day basis by moving working-class people to and from the sites of production and reproduction like our workplaces, schools, hospitals, groceries and other spaces we frequent to meet our needs. The current crisis of capital demands the continued disinvestment of the state in public commons like transportation, schools, and hospitals in favor of their destruction or replacement by privatized entities that provide the same services but at higher costs and lower quality. Since unionized workers continue to be a significant factor in these industries, the ruling class is on an offensive to remove these working-class organizations in so far as they represent an obstacle to continued capital accumulation, all at the expense of drivers, teachers, students, custodians, fast food workers, and all workers in general.

Flier NYC strike solidarity ATU 1181

From NYC to SF!

Many transportation workers are facing bosses that are attacking their benefits, eliminating seniority, adding restrictive work rules, speeding up the pace of work and so on. One way to respond to this is to roll over and keep quiet, accepting it without a fight. Another option is to organize and go on strike, which is exactly what 8,800 school bus drivers of Amalgamated Transit Union 1181 in New York City are doing as of Wednesday, January 16 at 6:00 am.

The Department of Education in NYC wants to contract private companies to run 1100 of the bus routes, eliminating seniority for the operators that currently do those runs and with no promise that operators currently driving those runs will retain their jobs. “The union representing the schoo lbus drivers, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, is asking for Employment Protection Provisions to be included in the new contract to protect workers from losing their jobs to newer, cheaper labor.” (The Nation, NYC Bus Strike Kicks Off to Fight Privatization of Yellow Buses, January 15, 2013) Instead of infighting between senior workers and younger lower paid workers, lets unite all workers against the bosses! All power to rank and file groups of multiple sectors, and don’t trust the forked tongues of the democratic politicians and union bureaucrats!

Our contacts in New York will be supporting the strike on the picket line, and they requested that we ask rank and file MUNI operators in SF for a statement of solidarity that they could distribute to the striking members of ATU 1181. This is an important opportunity to boost the morale of striking transit workers in New York and establish a line of communication between rank and file transit workers in different cities, which is a key step towards being able to win these struggles against the bosses and the big capitalists that benefit from all of our hard labor. One idea is that MUNI operators ask the ATU members to host a Skype session where MUNI operators could ask questions of the striking drivers in New York in order to get a better understanding of why they decided to strike, what obstacles they are facing, what successes they have had, and how we can build towards meaningful collaboration.

Without an organized resistance, we and our children face a grim future where the super wealthy have total power, poverty abounds, and the destruction of the environment continues unabated. To really win we need connections between rank and file workers groups in multiple cities and multiple industries that can develop action plans, share information, and put a message out to the public. If you are interested, please contact us!

Advance the Struggle and the Underground Railroad
January 16, 2013
bay.strikes@gmail.com

Wildcats, Workers’ Power, and Lessons for Today

Posted on January 22, 2013

The following flyer was distributed by members of FNT and other comrades at the school bus drivers’ strike in NYC.

Worker Community Meeting

Posted on July 11, 2012

Members of NYC Renegades put out this flyer to hundreds of Con Ed workers for a meeting. We will report back on the events soon!

The Most Powerful Workers in New York City_3

In the meantime, support Con Ed workers!

NYC Renegades

Con Edison Workers Locked Out

Posted on July 5, 2012

On July 1st, Con Edison locked out its workforce in order to pressure their union, Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, into accepting concessions during contract negotiations. 8,500 workers are now maintaining 24/7 pickets in each borough of New York City, and the city’s electrical grid is being maintained by Con Ed management staff. The following flyer was distributed among the Con Ed workers on the third day of the lockout.

THE MOST POWERFUL WORKERS IN NEW YORK CITY

Con Ed, MTA and healthcare workers are the most powerful workers in the entire city. But they have been defeated by the bosses and politicians in every major labor fight in the last decade. Unless things change quick, more defeats are coming.

The bosses win because they pit poor and working class communities against the workers when the workers resist. In this fight over the Con Ed contract, many everyday people see the wages of Con Ed workers as the cause of their high utilities bill, instead of a small taste of what all working class people could win if they stick together. Others consider the lockout a private matter to be handled between Con Ed and its workforce, instead of an issue that affects all New Yorkers. This is a trap set by the bosses and politicians, and it has worked all to well.

The only way to escape this trap is for workers to lead all of New York City in a struggle for a better life, including people outside their own workplaces and unions. If MTA workers called a fare strike with free transit for everyone in the city, all poor and working people would immediately support it. If Con Ed workers called for a strike to end stop and frisk and make utilities free, every young person of color in the city would have their back.

If workers provided this kind of leadership, all the crap about young people smoking weed and acting like delinquents would disappear. Young people would show up at picket lines and throw eggs at managers. They would fight the police and tooth and nail if scabs were brought in. Instead of beefing with each other and hurting the community, poor and working class youth would direct their anger at the bosses, politicians and police who oppress us all. One million students are on summer vacation right now, with no work and few social programs, waiting to take up this fight.

Will Con Ed workers provide this leadership for New York City? It will require leaving isolated pickets outside Con Ed yards, and doing public actions at drop-in centers and other busy locations across the city. It will require explaining to millions of everyday people what the Con Ed workers are fighting for, and discussing with them how to fight against the bosses, in the common interest. It will require finding new ways to fight, and taking initiative without waiting for direction from the union leadership.

If free utilities, healthcare, and transport become part of workers’ demands, the working class of New York City will unite, and become unstoppable. Then workers will be able to win not only a contract, but a hell of a lot more.