Is It A Victory?

The federal judge hearing Metro’s challenge to the 2009 arbitration award on our contract has denied Metro’s demand that the award be set aside. He has ruled that the award is legal and should be implemented.

After reviewing all the material submitted to him by the union and management, he decided that it was affordable to Metro because it only increases labor costs by 1.76% per year over the four year term of the contract. Inflation during the last year has been close to 4% putting a big squeeze on our standard of living. Since January 1, 2008 to the end of June this year inflation has been approximately 7.5%. Since inflation is predicted to continue at a rate in excess of 3% for the next year, we will experience a significant loss of real wages during the contract period.

If the arbitration award is implemented as written, the average member who has been working since the contract expired on June 30,2008 would be due approximately $5,000 in back pay as well as a 9% wage increase. Metro challenged the award in court, not because it was beneficial to us, but because it did not take enough away from us. The elimination of health insurance for newly hired employees when they retire will save Metro over $1 billion in the future and the one year wage freeze will save them $48 million over the four years of the contract. Cost shifting on health insurance will save Metro several millions of dollars more over the course of the contract. Isn’t this enough?

The judge’s ruling will not stop Metro management‘s attacks on us. They have made safety the issue to justify their attacks. Management talks about the need for a safety culture. At the same time they have operators following unreasonable schedules, working mandatory overtime, using faulty equipment and, stressing them out over the threat of disciplinary actions. How can this be a safe environment?

What are we doing to fight back? Not much! The union leadership believes the award was a good one so therefore since it has been approved; there is nothing to fight over. On safety, they are telling us to be safe, if we want to avoid discipline. What needs to be done? First we need to understand what is going on and then we need a plan of action to deal with it.

The attack on us began when Metro took over from DC Transit in 1973. The local governments that set up Metro viewed the problem the private companies had as caused by wages and benefits that were excessive. Metro immediately launched an attack on our cost of living increases. The union struck to preserve them. We won that fight but the company extended the wage progression to two years and froze the wages of many unskilled workers.

In 1978, Metro came after the cost of living increase again. The union went on strike for 6 days. We held on to the increases in wages, but Metro was allowed to hire part time operators with no benefits. The union weathered the economic crisis of the early 80’s (10% unemployment and double digit inflation) without much damage because of Metro’s fear of a strike still haunted them.

The economic crisis of the early 90’s was the occasion for new attacks. The progression was extended from 3 to 8 years. Wages were frozen for everyone in 1992 and for those with less than 6 years of service in 1993 and in 1995 hundreds of drivers and mechanics were laid off.

As the new century began, there was an uptick in transit workers militancy. Strikes in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York helped us regain some of the loses of the 90’s. Real wages improved. Pensions and pension funding increased. A year was taken off the progression for operators and unskilled workers.

Then came 2008 and another economic crisis began. The union did not try to advance under attack. It retreated to the arbitration process. When the arbitrator took a pint of blood, Metro said they wanted two, and took us to court. The judge has now ruled that one pint is enough for now. Metro might appeal the judge’s ruling. Although unlikely since the judge has made a good case for how much money Metro is saving on it, and Metro knows there will be a walkout if they appeal the decision, we should be prepared if they do.

To reverse the loses we need a plan to shut the city down. We need pay raises that protect us against inflation and improve our standard of living, and we need health insurance for everyone when they retire. Strikes are the only effective way we have to protect our interests. The bosses know this and that is why they have made them illegal. We need to overcome our fears and prepare for battle.

Setting The Record Straight And Planning For The Future

Jackie's comments on the 2001 to 2004 contract ( Hick's contract) showed she had little understanding of the contract and what was done. She sees it as a give back that we gave up the perfect attendance award. In reality we got a 4% wage increase instead of 3% for this. Do the math! The perfect attendance award was worth about $200 per year for people who qualified. The extra 1%, if you made $60,000 per year, is $600. Everyone got the extra 1% and it is now part of their base salary. So they continue to get it every year. Not a bad deal. What about funding the LTD benefit out of the pension fund? Take a look at the Pension Actuary Report and see how it is determined. Apparently Jackie never did this. The Actuary determines how much Metro needs to contribute to the fund for pensions. He then figures out how much money is needed for the LTD benefit. He adds these two numbers together and that is what Metro sends to the pension fund for the year ( its divided into 12 equal payments). The money for the LTD benefit comes from Metro. It passes through the pension fund because that was what was negotiated. A concession was made to Metro on who could participate in the EAP program. Under this agreement you had to work for Metro for at least six month to participate. If you though the drug test gave a false positive, you could grieve that.

In the 2004 to 2008 contract which I negotiated Jackie mentioned changes in the Section 124 language, like it was a bad thing. Compare the old language with the new. The new language expands the bidding rights of workers who are permanently disqualified from their positions so it is easier for them to get back to work. Is this a bad thing?

One thing Hicks and I learned from negotiating with Metro is that they often do not know what they are talking about. They made a big issue of the LTD benefit being a pension benefit. Our concern was that they continue to pay for it. The result was that they changed the name and the membership got the benefit cost free.

Jackie continues to make a big point about all the concessions Metro wanted and that is why she could not negotiate a contract. Every contract since at least 1983 Metro has come at us with the same laundry list of concessions (they must use a copying machine and change the dates). In the 2001 and 2004 contract negotiations, we got Metro to drop all the significant concessions, made some improvements and moved on. Why couldn't she do the same.

There are two reasons. First Metro management was more determined to set us back in 2008 then they were in the previous contracts. Second the union leadership told management from the start of negotiations that they would play by the rules and there would be no work actions to press the union's issues. At this point management knew that they could force the contract to arbitration where they believed that they could do better than in negotiations and if this failed they could challenge the award in court without any fear of a strike by the union.

Metro's attitude to its workers is on display in the challenge to the arbitration award. The award is clearly the worst contract the union has achieved since the Simpkin Award in 1969 when the full cost of living clause was taken from us. ( We got it back in 1972 through negotiations and the threat of a strike.) The award froze our wages for a year which has not happened since 1992, and it eliminated retiree health insurance for new employees which will save Metro over $1 billion as current emplyees and retirees die off. In addition it introduced co-payments for the HMO's which had never existed before. Despite these give backs, Metro believes they can push us even further back.

We are now at a crossroad. The laws governing the arbitraton process at WMATA have been changed to tilt the process more in the bosses' favor. We are in a weaker position than we have been since the right to strike was negotiated away in 1955. At this point we have neither binding arbitration or the right to strike. If we acept the status quo this job will soon not be worth having. Many of us are afraid of the consequences of fighting back. We still have hope that things will work themselves out. They might, but we should prepare ourselves for battle. Preparing for battle means building an alliance with the riding public whom we serve everyday. It means uniting with other unions who are facing the same difficulties we are. It means gaining the support of our families and friends.

Court Ruling Expected Soon

On April 29, all the various documents, briefs and motions that the judge reviewing our arbitration award has asked for were given to him. He will now write his opinion on whether the award is in compliance with the law or not. He stated in his February opinion that he would attempt to finish his final opinion as quickly as possible. For a federal judge this is probably about two months.

When the opinion is handed down by the court it will do one of two things, either he will order Metro to pay the wage increases in the award or he will declare the award illegal and order the parties to go back and begin negotiations on a smaller wage increase. If either party is dissatisfied with his opinion they of course can appeal his decision and delay the final outcome for another year.

Many members have asked how can Metro do this if we have final and binding arbitration. The court told the union in February of 2010, that we no longer have final and binding arbitration. This was taken away from us when Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Wolf Bill into law in 1995.

Since the original award was written in November 2009, unions across the country have been under attack and the arbitration process has been labeled unfair to the bosses and the local governments. The bosses seem to have forgotten their history on this one. Arbitration was set up in the first place to prevent workers from striking because the bosses felt strikes were too effective in winning workers demands. In recent years, the unions have been weaken to the extent that they can rarely wage an effective strike, so now the bosses feel they can take away our right to arbitrate contracts without any repercussions

We have all seen the process unfold in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana where collective bargaining rights have been eliminated or greatly reduced. In Montgomery County the courts have ruled that the County Executive can set aside an arbitration award if he honestly believes it will threaten the financial stability of the county.

From the 1930’s to the middle 60’s a militant trade union movement and the civil rights movement were able achieve a decent standard of living for many workers through collective bargaining, and a decent retirement through Social Security, Medicare and the private pension systems. Now 50 years later, the bosses have decided that all these gains by workers have to be taken back because they are no longer affordable.

The problem is not that we do not have the workers and the resources to provide workers with a decent standard of living but rather that the bosses run the system to make profits rather meet the needs of the working class. As long as we let the bosses continue to spend billions on foreign wars to protect their profits, billions more on police repression at home to keep the working class down and billions more in fighting each other to see who can make the most money, workers will not have a decent, secure and productive life.

To build a struggle to protect the rights of all workers, ATU Local 689 is holding a town hall meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library in downtown Washington on June 20 at 6:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to build unity between Metro workers and the riding public to fight for decent public transportation, low fares, and a strong union presence at Metro. Metro workers are willing to fight not only for themselves but for all workers in the region. Join us. For more info email: movingforward689@yahoo.com

Union town

Fight Back By Building For Mayday

All across the United States, workers are rising up against attacks on their unions, wages and benefits. Wisconsin has been the epicenter of these rebellions as tens of thousands of workers have demonstrated in the state capital against attacks on their collective bargaining rights.

The union leaders and their political allies have tried to keep the struggle focused on recalling Republican senators, electing Democrats and within the bosses’ laws. Talks of strikes and even a general strike by rank and file workers have been dismissed by the union leadership.

The leadership sees the rallies as blowing off steam by the workers, while they make deals with the bosses, rather than as part of a workers movement to intensify the class struggle against the capitalists. If we are going to move forward in a period like this, a new leadership has to come forth that is willing to take on the bosses and sharpen the class struggle. This means breaking through the constraints the bosses have placed on us to wage successful strikes. The three main constraints are the ability of the courts to declare strikes illegal and order the strikers back to work, the outlawing of support strikes by other workers, and the prohibition of mass picketing to prevent scabs from taking the jobs of striking workers.

At Metro, the union leadership looks at the no strike law as the Eleventh Commandant rather than a rule to keep the workers down. They will spend millions of dollars supporting politicians who promise us everything and deliver nothing, rather than organize us to fight back. This does not work because politicians support the system of capitalism which is based on making profits off workers’ labor. If a politician cannot prevent a successful strike, they are of no use to the capitalists and they will soon be gotten rid of.

Ever since contract negotiations began nearly four years ago, it has been clear that the politicians would not support us. It also has been clear that Metro was determined to ram a lousy contract down our throats. The union leadership made no plans to deal with these conditions. When the arbitration award came out in November 2009, the leadership pretended it was a great deal when in fact it was terrible, particularly with the elimination of retiree health insurance for new employees and a one year wage freeze. When Metro challenged our pay raises, the union went so far as to tell the court it was okay to raise our health insurance costs and freeze our wages for one year.

The attack on us is intensifying as the DC government plans a major expansion of The Circulator over the next few years. We must fight to have the Circulator made a part of the Metrobus system and operated by Local 689 members not First Transit.

The attacks on the union movement across the country and in DC have had the effect of strengthening the movement. Thousands of workers in DC have rallied for the fight. As a movement we are stronger and more united than we have been in years. As we await the outcome of the Court’s ruling on our contract, we should continue to rally, support the struggles of other workers who are fighting back, particularly the Ride-On drivers, and seek the support of the riding public. On May 1, thousands of workers will gather in New York City to celebrate Mayday, the international working class holiday. They will be marching to fight the attacks on workers, to fight racism and attacks on immigrant workers and to end war. We should join them.

Court Rules That Arbitration Award Is Not In Compliance With The Law

After 15 months the judge hearing the challenge to our arbitration award has ruled that the Supplemental Opinion submitted by the Arbitrator in June of 2010 is not in compliance with the law. This is a stronger statement by him than was given in March of 2010 when he told us that the original award had to comply with the provisions of the National Capital Area Interest Arbitration Standards Act without indicating whether it did or did not.

In essence the court has told us that an award is only final and binding if it complies with the Standards Act and that this will be decided by the Courts. The Court said, “the Standards Act makes eminently clear that its purpose is to compel arbitrators resolving labor disputes pursuant to the Compact both to consider and to apply the factors designed to meet the express goal of lowering public transportation costs in the Washington D.C. area”.

The judge has now given the Arbitrator 40 days to write another opinion showing how Metro can afford to give us the pay raises in the award and continue the current pension benefits. Up to now the Arbitrator has not been able to do this to the judge’s satisfaction. It is wishful thinking to believe that if the Arbitrator who was assisted by the union lawyers and economists for the last 15 months could not satisfy the judge that he will be able to do it in the next 40 days.

The judge has stated he will expedite the process this time so it is reasonable to expect a final opinion in June but of course that is subject to appeal.

We have been waiting nearly three years to resolve our contract dispute with Metro with no end in sight. It is time to stop waiting and plan a fight. If the leadership of our union will not, we have to do it ourselves. What does a plan look like? First at every work location, a committee has to be set up to inform the members of the importance of the fight and to make sure everyone is on the same page. Leaders have to be selected who can then meet to coordinate activities for the whole union. These activities will include reaching out to the riding public to gain their support in the struggle, contacting other workers who are going through the same thing as us, and planning rallies at the Metro Board meetings and the offices of local politicians who are attacking us.

Will this be enough? We do not know until we try. If not we will have to escalate the struggle. Our goal in the short run is to gain the wage increases we deserve and to reverse the decision to eliminate new employees from retirement health insurance. In the longer run we need a union which Metro fears and therefore treats us with dignity and respect.

One last word on the issue of racism. Because of continuing existence of racism in our society and because of the fact that the public image of Metro is often an African-American operator, the bosses portray us as an uneducated over paid work force. This lie lets the bosses divide us from much of the riding public. Fighting racism and the way it divides the working class must always be at the forefront of our struggles. From Cairo to Madison, workers are fighting back against oppression. Many of the setbacks the labor movement has suffered in the recent past can be reversed if we focus the fight on the capitalists, and build solidarity among all workers, black or white, legal or undocumented. Seize the time. For more information email: movingforward689@yahoo.com

What Direction Is Our Union Heading?

As anger grows among the members of ATU Local 689 because of the failure of the union leadership to take up the fight for a pay raise and the protection of our benefits, the leadership has launched a new set of attacks on the membership. At the January union meeting the union president attacked the membership by saying they were more interested in a pay raise than protecting their benefits. This is the biggest distortion of the truth that has ever been made by a president of Local 689. Explain that!

In the summer of 2009 the union received the actuary report on the pension system. It called for a large increase in pension contributions by the Authority. The union contract had been changed in 2004 to make implementation of the actuary report automatic unless both the union and management agreed to modify it. John Catoe, the general manager at the time, sent out a letter to all 689 members asking that the union agree to reduce the Authority’s required contribution. What did our president, her husband and the Financial-Secretary do? Instead of telling Metro we will discuss restructuring your payments to the pension fund, but in return we expect you to drop all your demands to reduce our pensions by eliminating the high four, making us pay into the pension fund, and modifying the post retirement escalator clause, and settling the contract, they agreed to reduce Metro’s required contribution and got nothing in return. The president has said she did this to show good faith in negotiations. A union leader’s job is to protect the interests of the members not to worry what management thinks of you.

Then in November of 2009, a special meeting was held to review the contract arbitration award. She announced that it was an award that made no concessions to Metro. In fact the award made the biggest concession to management in the history of the local. The award eliminated retiree health insurance for anyone hired after January 1, 2010. How much is this worth to management? According to Metro’s budget statement for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2010, the Authority’s liability in this area is close to $ 1 billion, yes that is billion. That is the projected cost of retiree health insurance for current employees when they retire and for those who have already retired. This gives Metro a real incentive to get rid of current employees and hire new ones. Regardless this liability will eventually go away because of this change. This was not challenged in court.

There is no need to go into detail about what has happened to our health insurance costs. Anyone who has gone to the doctor recently or looked at their paycheck knows that more of the costs have been shifted to the members. This was not challenged in court.

What is the union leadership’s rationale for not challenging these in court? They want to protect our pay raise which we have not received. They have not protected our benefits nor gotten us a pay raise after 4 years in office. They can continue to try and blame this situation on the membership or prior administrations, but that excuse is wearing kind of thin.

Rank and file workers at every location have to begin to organize themselves for battle. If we want to get what we need and deserve, there is going to have to be a fight. There is no indication the current leadership is willing to lead this fight. Their refusal to fight on the retirement health insurance issue shows they are unworthy of being officers of this union. The current leadership has used divisions in the union to promote themselves. This has weakened the struggle against management. This must change.