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.
