Reviving culture of labor fightback
Boston union beats back concessions, launches justice campaign for retirees
Published Sep 2, 2011 11:26 AM
Labor and community supporters came out by the hundreds
Aug. 24 in solidarity with Bus Drivers Union.
WW photos: Stevan Kirschbaum
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By Gerry Scoppettuolo & Stevan Kirschbaum
Boston
“We don’t go to retirement parties. We go to funerals!”
shouted Steelworkers Local 8751 Vice President Steve Gillis as he rallied more
than 500 members of the Boston School Bus Drivers Union and their supporters in
Boston Teachers Union Hall on Aug. 24. The occasion was the
Community/Student/Labor Solidarity Rally, part of the union’s Fight for
Retirement with Dignity and Contract Justice. The crowd roared its agreement
— because without retirement benefits, bus drivers can’t afford to
leave the job and retire. Union organizers point out that after decades of
service, the company “throws them to the curb like a used
tire.”
Boston school bus drivers retirees are honored, Aug. 24.
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By the time the standing-room-only meeting was over two hours later, it was
clear the drivers — Haitian, African-American, Latino/a and white —
had united as a mighty unstoppable force and were ready to force many
concessions demanded by First Student Corporation off the bargaining table.
The workers took the strength of the rally directly into round-the-clock
negotiating sessions with the company, and turned the Aug. 25-26
“bid” for fall bus route assignments into a two-day rally for
retirement dignity and a fair contract.
The Bus Drivers are reviving the labor culture of fightback, beating back
company demands for vicious concessions and demanding progress and economic
justice at a time when unions are under attack.
The union is fighting for retirement benefits to allow older members to retire
with dignity. A majority of the membership is over 50. Currently bus drivers
are the only school workers who receive no pension and lose all benefits,
including those for health and life insurance, when they leave the job.
Recently a worker retired after decades on the job and died a few weeks later.
Because all health and life insurance was discontinued on the day he left the
job, his family didn’t even have sufficient funds to cover the cost of
burial.
The union is demanding a company match to the pension fund (so it contributes
the same amount as the drivers), a lump-sum-appreciation payment, and continued
health and life insurance at time of retirement. A high point of the rally was
a salute to a large group of veteran drivers over 65, led by Bob Traynham, 74;
Naomi Miller, 81; and Charlie Hoy, 71.
For decades, the Bus Drivers union has been a beacon of militant unionism and
the fight for civil rights, opposing racist school segregation in Boston and
supporting every peoples’ campaign for justice and against war.
Richard Stutman, Boston Teachers Union president, welcomed the drivers to the
hall and pledged the teachers’ aid in the struggle. Boston City Councilor
Charles Yancey told the assembly, “You are under attack. Make no mistake
about it. Today the Council passed a resolution of support for the Verizon
workers, and there needs to be one for you, too!” A benediction was
delivered by Bishop Philip Teixiera OFSC, Diocese of St. Francis of
Assisi.
Taking a stand ‘for our children & all workers’
One of many emotional peaks during the rally was when Myles Calvey, business
agent of the Verizon workers in International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Local 2222, brought a delegation of union workers who were recently on strike
against the communications giant. “We are there for you!” Calvey
shouted to the crowd. “They will push us into the ocean if we let them!
We have to take a stand for our children and for all workers!”
The bus drivers had expressed solidarity with these fellow union members by
walking the Verizon picket lines during the strike. Calvey acknowledged the
long-standing solidarity between the two unions going all the way back to the
Verizon strike of 1989, when BSBD members were arrested on the Local 2222
picket line.
Boston City Councilors Felix Arroyo and Tito Jackson offered their support.
Arroyo, the son of long-time City Councilor Felix Arroyo Sr., is a recent union
organizer with the Service Employees union, while Jackson’s father,
Herbert Jackson, was a founder of the Greater Roxbury Workers Association.
Solidarity speakers included Sandra McIntosh of the Coalition for Equal Quality
Education; Jose Lopez, Teachers Activist Group; Myia X, youth leader of the
Women’s Fightback Network, SistaCipher and Politicin with the Sistas;
Darrin Howell, MassUniting; Frantz Dry, Fanmi Lavalas; Frank Neisser, Bail Out
the People Movement; representatives from the Greater Boston Labor Council,
Mass AFL-CIO and more.
This rally, like the 100 percent shutdown of the “bid” for
assignment of summer school routes on June 25, demonstrated the truly historic
level of unity of the Boston School Bus Drivers Union.
The rally was a kick-off to a broad, citywide campaign for retirement with
dignity. The union members plan to let First Student, the School Department and
Mayor Thomas Menino know they demand respect — now! There will be City
Council resolutions and hearings, press and media work, and extensive outreach
to parents, students, people of faith and the entire Boston community.
Materials will include literature, stickers, posters and buttons. An online
petition is being prepared demanding “Retirement with Dignity
NOW!”
For more information and to read the latest union bulletin, go to
www.bostonschoolbusunion.org/
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