A fighting union for 30 years

Frantz Mendes WW photo: G. Dunkel

From a talk given by Frantz Mendes, president, United Steel Workers Local 8751 in Boston, to May 13-14 “Preparing for the rebirth of the global struggle for socialism” conference in New York.

The Boston school bus drivers’ union represents over 800 workers, 95 percent from Boston’s communities of color. We are Haitian, Cape Verdean, African-American, Asian and white, the majority from Boston’s immigrant communities.

For nearly 30 years we have built a proud record of struggle for justice. We are a rank-and-file-led union. We fight 100 percent for every grievance, every contract. We also believe that the union should be united as one with the communities in the struggle against poverty, racism and war.

The local was honored to serve as the New England regional office of the Million Worker March. We have supported Palestinian freedom, and had a Palestinian leader give an educational program to our stewards’ council. We hosted a delegation of Korean Auto Workers Union representatives in their visit to Boston to build solidarity.

In February 2004, we helped found the New England Human Rights Organi zation for Haiti. Since that time we have participated in countless demonstrations and hosted many meetings for Haiti’s freedom in our union hall. We went to my home in Haiti to give concrete solidarity to the struggle, and to give voice to those whom imperialism wants to silence. We went to the National Penitentiary and the Petionville prison in Port-au-Prince to meet with Lavalas political prisoners So Anne, Yvon Neptune, and [Jocelerme] Ivert.

We sent political, material and financial support to the Confederation of Haitian Workers. The CTH extended solidarity with the Million Worker March in the U.S.

In April 2005, we visited revolutionary Venezuela. We went to factories where the workers are building true workers’ power every day. There is nothing that compares to witnessing firsthand their heroic fight to build socialism.

We have traveled to Colombia to defend workers’ rights, to say no to the U.S. dirty war, and to build support for the boycott of Killer Coke. When we returned to Boston, we made First Student Corp. throw Coca-Cola out of all four bus yards—making Local 8751 a Coke-free zone.

In Boston, we have been one of the founding and leading forces in the historic Rosa Parks coalition. Along with the leaders from Boston’s communities of color, the youth, anti-racist, anti-war, women and LGBT activists, we have dramatically changed the political landscape in our city.

On Dec. 1, when 2,000 took to the streets in defiance of the mayor and the school superintendent, a contingent of over 40 officers, stewards and members of Local 8751 participated, providing mobile sound stage, security, and logistics.

On March 18, we brought the message of “No to Poverty, Racism and War” to the street. It was a first for Boston’s anti-war movement. The march started in the Black community, and was led by youth of color. In the weeks prior, the union’s sound truck brought Rosa Parks leaders door to door in Boston’s communities of color, delivering our message in three languages.

The union, along with Rosa Parks Coalition and Workers World Party, led a spontaneous march of hundreds through the streets of Boston on May Day in support of immigrant rights, joining with thousands more on Boston Common.

Last month, our local held Executive Board elections. In many ways it was a referendum not just on our struggle approach to fighting against the boss but also on our program of taking our stand as part of the peoples’ movement. I am pleased to report that in an historic 90-percent voter turnout, we won by a landslide!

We have been fighting as a union for 30 years, and for 30 years Workers World Party has been with us every step of the way, from our founding to today. I want to publicly give thanks for this solidarity, and to give a special thank-you to one of your founders, and a teacher to many of our local’s leaders for years, Milt Neidenberg.

The workers are ready to build a better world. As was our theme in the past election, we say: “Forward ever! Backward never!”