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
