But printer’s ink abounds in today’s issue as this mass publication of capitalism reveals its anti-worker bent in a savage attack on the MUNI operators that operate San Francisco’s buses, trams and cable cars. The drivers, members of TWU local 250-A voted against a concessionary contract by a 2-1 margin. These workers have twice voted down concessionary contracts that their leaders supported and have earned the anger of the big business politicians that run the city in the interests of the corporations.
The refusal of the MUNI workers to meekly accept the shifting of the burden of the present financial crisis on to their backs set the politicians of big business on to the offensive. Scott Wiener, a local Democratic politician and Harvard educated lawyer was instrumental in getting a ballot proposal passed that eliminated a clause in the City Charter that that guaranteed the MUNI drivers the second highest pay in the country. That amounted to $29 an hour, not exactly Harvard lawyer material and very modest for one of the most expensive cities in the country. Unlike Wiener, the MUNI operators engage in socially productive Labor providing 700,000 San Franciscans a day with transportation. And as wages go down there's not much chance of being the second highest paid drivers in the country amounting to much. But even so, for workers we should always look to the higher paid as our benchmark, not the lowest.
Apart from a front-page article on the contract vote, the Chronicle’s main editorial is titled “A Rogue Union”. As the voice of the bosses we should not be surprised that the Chronicle would be so vehement in it’s condemnation of the members of Local 250-A, these brothers and sisters are taking the correct position by taking that first step in resisting another assault on our livelihoods after we have bailed the bosses and their rotten system out of the hole they created. They are also terrified that other rank and file Union members might follow suit and that it might get contagious and tap in to the anger that exists in the population as a whole and that the Labor hierarchy will be unable to hold back the tide for ever.
The anger that existed in the aftermath of the crash has been diverted toward workers and public workers in particular. There has been a massive propaganda campaign aimed at convincing us that there is no money in society and laying blame for the crisis on workers and away from the bankers, speculators, hedge fund managers and CEO’s and their two political parties that are responsible for it. The fact that top Union officials have endorsed this view, pushing concessionary contracts down their member’s throats in the name of “shared sacrifice” as opposed to organizing an offensive of our own, has given this false idea credibility and is why proposals like Proposition G can pass.
According to the Chronicle, the contract the drivers rejected called for a “three year wage freeze, the use of part-time operators, and other measures to cut overtime costs, and work rule changes that that would give management more control over discipline and day-to-day operations.”
Well, good on 'em. It is a disgrace that the Union officials at the negotiating table would recommend such a deal, but they have to help the boss out and for them that means giving up what took workers a generation to win. What sort of leadership is that? They are nothing but messengers, Labor brokers. The workers have “ignored a battle brewing on how deeply to cut pension and health benefits, a political issue that’s led the city’s biggest labor groups to offer significant concessions.” says the Chronicle editorial. Well shame on the heads of those Unions for cowering in the face of an attack on workers and refusing to fight. The Chronicle whines on about how bad things are and how concessions are made by the private sector and how the budget is “barely balanced” etc. and what the members of TWU have created is “Union power run amok.” If you read throughout Labor history, this is always the approach when workers fight back in any way or form. It's only class war when we fight back as we say.
As before, the leading figures in the local Labor bureaucracy from the locals, the Central Labor Council and full time staff from the ATU’s international Union will all be working behind the scenes and through the bosses’ media like the Chronicle to force the MUNI operators to back down and do their share to bail out capitalism.
As a retied worker I am proud of the MUNI operators. Unfortunately we are in a war on two fronts, one against the bosses and all the forces at their command, their media, the police, the politicians like Wiener, a young opportunist looking to claw his way up the political ladder, and the other against the obstacle within our own ranks, the leaders of our movement who cower with fear at the thought of a confrontation with capital and see reduced living standards for American workers as the only solution to the crisis.
But we have the power to reverse these defeats we have the power to make the bosses pay. The money is there. Just this month, Citizens for Tax Justice released findings about the failure of huge corporations to pay taxes. Trillions is being spent in predatory wars that do not serve the interests of American works and the middle class. The corporations are hoarding more than $2 trillion in cash. There are the trillions we have already given the bankers and other social wasters. And there are the incredible compensation packages and bonuses handed out to the coupon clippers. John Paulson earned $5 billion in 2007 and another $5 billion in 2009, he is not alone.
The MUNI operators have yet again taken the baton, but they can’t win alone. Their stand could be the beginnings of a movement in this area that could drive back the employers’ offensive and inspire millions of people around the country as long as it doesn’t follow the same path that Wisconsin has taken----footsoliders for Democratic politicians on their way in to office.
In order to broaden our struggle and win other workers, particularly the unemployed, to our side as well as students and all sections of our community we must raise demands that mean something to them, more jobs, no cuts in education or Medicare, an expansion of health care and increased mass transit and an end to foreclosures and high rents. And we must say something about the horrific situation we have with 2 million people in prisons, almost 50% of them black folks. The MUNI operators and the BART workers alone could bring this economy to a halt and it would win support of the vast majority of the workers in this area if they saw that they would also benefit from any successes that would arise out of such a struggle; they would join it.
Last time the MUNI operators rejected contracts, their leaders, the leaders of the TWU International and the San Francisco Labor Council all brought the pressure to bear, all pushed concessions on the folks that pay the dues and make the system work. Hopefully we’ll see a real struggle take place within the local Labor movement, a divide open up between those who want to continue giving away our hard won gains to help the boss out and those that are willing to fight for the operators and all workers by making the bosses pay.
It’s them or us.
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