Why the TWU strike was an historic event

For three days in December, this city, which houses the financial center of the imperialist world, was rocked by a strike of 34,000 transit workers. These workers of many different nationalities, members of Transport Workers Union Local 100 who carry over 7 million subway and bus riders safely to their jobs and destinations, shut the city down on Dec. 20-22.

At the height of the holiday shopping season, they paralyzed the corporate and business community. Wall Street estimated losses at a billion dollars a day. Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg admitted that the strike cost the city over $400 million a day in police overtime and lost revenues.

Plantation justice

The union members, a majority African American and Latin@, had been treated shab bily for many decades. They were fight ing for more than a decent contract. They were standing up for dignity and respect.

In an interview with New York’s major Black newspaper, TWU President Roger Toussaint, originally from Trinidad, described the racist assault against the union members: “The cultural problem is what we call a plantation justice mentality. ... It’s not unusual for us to have 16,000 disciplinary notices issued in a year. ... There are inadequate facilities and time for bathroom breaks. Some bus drivers, male and female, when they can’t find a store to run in to to relieve themselves, have had to master the art of relieving themselves in a cup when push comes to shove.” (Amsterdam News, Dec. 8)

During the strike Mayor Bloomberg described Toussaint and his members as thugs, selfish and greedy. And this from a mayor who hasn’t even bothered to move into Gracie Mansion, but instead chose to continue to live in his five-story, 7,000-square-foot townhouse, which made the Forbes magazine list of “400 Billionaire Homes.”

For decades, Gracie Mansion, with its 11 acres of parkland in the middle of the city, was a luxurious perk for New York mayors.

Bloomberg spent $75 million on his first election and over $77 million on his second. This left an almost invisible dent in his assets. He spent $103 for each vote he received—well worth it to him and his class.

Up against an unjust law

The union was faced with the vicious anti-union Taylor Law, which outlaws strikes by public sector workers in New York state. The first day, a state judge imposed a fine of $1 million a day on the union, and two days’ pay for each day of the strike on the workers. The jubilant bosses were optimistic that the strike would be broken. Toussaint and his negotiating committee would have to settle cheap. The capitalist newspapers and television cackled that Toussaint was boxed in.

Not true. He invoked a higher moral authority over an unjust law. He cited Rosa Parks, whose courage in breaking the segregation laws 50 years ago began the Civil Rights movement.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, led by Peter Kalikow, a multi-millionaire real estate tycoon, was also convinced it could get a cheap concessionary contract. The MTA board chairperson is appointed by Gov. George Pataki, who directly controls six of the 14 votes on the board. Mayor Bloomberg has influence with the remaining votes. Both politicians are soul mates of bankers, big-time bondholders and well-heeled contractors who are the beneficiaries of the $10 billion MTA budget. Like vultures, they suck the wealth from the transit corporation through exorbitant interest rates and rollovers of outstanding bonds.

In the Amsterdam News interview, Toussaint described the financial manipulations of the MTA. He reminded the public: “The MTA was reporting a deficit about a year ago, now they’re reporting an over-$1 billion surplus. ... So rather than using the surplus to shelve plans for future fare increases ... or rather than setting aside a portion of it to deal with our outstanding labor contract, they’re looking at everything else. This is not right.”

When negotiations opened up on Dec. 7, the MTA offer was insulting: a 2 percent wage increase over two years, the second year contingent on extending disciplinary citations on members who take “too much” sick leave; making newly hired workers pay 2 percent of their earnings into the pension plan; and extending the retirement age to 62 after 30 years of service. Currently transit workers can retire at 55 after working 25 years.

The MTA also demanded the merging of job titles of cleaners, station agents and bus helpers. Conductors and transit engineers would merge into a one-person operation per train. At a time when many more riders are using public transportation, these demands would eliminate jobs and create an unsafe transportation system.

The MTA demanded concessions in wages, pensions, health care and working conditions for new hires—a two-tier system that has become the scourge of the labor movement, which in general has been retreating on these critical issues. The union was fighting an uphill battle.

Toussaint called the proposals an insult. Three days later, on Dec. 10, thousands of members converged on the huge Javits Convention Center in mid-Manhattan and overwhelmingly authorized a strike. For the next 10 days until the first day of the citywide strike on Dec. 20, the multinational membership was mobilized to fight back.

They organized massive, militant rallies and demonstrations. They held informational picket lines and planned “work-to-rule” job actions to force the MTA to improve its offer. They delayed the Dec. 15 strike date, when the contract expired, in consideration of the 7 million subway and bus riders and in the hope that the MTA would come to its senses. It didn’t.

On Dec. 20, following a strike of over 700 Queens bus drivers not yet under the MTA who hadn’t had a contract for almost three years, the 34,000 transit workers unleashed their power and shut the city down. It was an awesome act of defiance. Their own TWU International betrayed them by denouncing the strike. National union leaders like AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Change to Win’s Andy Stern and Teamster President James Hoffa were nowhere to be seen.

Solidarity and national oppression

This multinational union won the admiration and sympathy of Black, Latin@ and other oppressed nationalities in this diverse city. These workers identified their own oppression with the TWU struggle, even though the strike created major obstacles in their getting to work. White workers angry at the rich and powerful also supported the strike.

The ruling class took note of this solidarity and how the transit workers were staying strong. Two days later, mediators were called in. A tentative agreement was arrived at the following day, ending the strike. The proposals were a far cry from what the MTA had originally called its final offer.

TWU Local 100 assessed the gains in this offer over the MTA’s original proposals. Highlights were a 37-month contract without the pension differentials or the divisive two-tier for new hires. Many work ers were to get a refund on money already put into the pension plan—a boost of $8,000-$14,000 for some 20,000 members—and members attending school would get subsidies. They won a paid holiday on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and a host of other gains, along with a 10.5 percent wage increase over the length of the agreement. Broadbanding, a vicious practice to intensify productivity at the expense of eliminating subway and bus jobs, was taken off the table.

Equally significant were the gains in their quest for dignity and respect. The MTA agreed to reduce pre-disciplinary suspensions and brought in an independent third party to review the structure of the MTA’s “cultural plantation” racist practices. And hurray for this: maternity pay for the first time ever.

The contract included a concession from the union—a contribution by the members of 1.5 percent of their wages for health care premiums. But they got lifetime medical coverage and the elimination of the prescription drug deductible for retirees.

The three-day strike exposed the lineup of class and racial forces between the multinational transit union and the MTA corporate/banking fraternity. To serve their class interests, there are no contracts, no rules they can’t break.

The MTA was furious that the union refused to be boxed in by binding arbitration, which would have taken the decision-making out of the hands of the rank and file under the Taylor Law. Governor Pataki had sworn there would be no negotiations until the TWU returned to work—bitter words he later had to eat.

There is nothing like the fury of the rich and powerful and their political hacks when they get gored. They were enraged that this union, which broke their repressive Taylor Law, could win a decent contract.

It wasn’t enough for this cabal of wealth and greed to punish the union with a $3 million fine and assess the members two days’ pay for each day on strike. Governor Pataki and the MTA are now threatening to renege on the agreement on retro pay for thousands of retirees and to withdraw the dues check-off—a financial lifeline of the union. The union is threatening to postpone the ratification vote until the contract is honored. The class and racial lines are once again being drawn.

The three-day transit strike unleashed an awesome power that shook up the ruling class. They were vulnerable to the timing of the strike and the unshakable will of 34,000 transit workers.

The strike will resonate far beyond this city, particularly among the more oppressed, low-paid multinational workers—including many women and immigrants—who suffer intensified deprivation and indignities. Because of the strike, TWU Local 100 and its leaders came out stronger, with a contract they can live with and their dignity intact. Considering that it came during the most relentless and protracted attack on the labor movement, this was the biggest and best thing that has happened in years. That makes it an historic event.