Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 ratified a tentative agreement on Oct. 21.
“We are humbled by the solidarity shown to us from Milwaukee transit riders, labor unions and community activists who stood with us throughout our fight for a fair contract,” ATU 998 President James Macon said in a statement.
This people’s win occurred despite a climate of deep austerity and union busting in Wisconsin. A highlight of the struggle was the three-day work stoppage in July during the world’s biggest music festival, Summerfest. This action showed the possibilities going forward for creative uses of social-union organizing models in this state.
Born in the 1934 fires of class struggle, ATU 998 has long been a union employing a civil- and human-rights approach. Father James Groppi, the late civil rights activist, was once president of the union, and for decades the membership of drivers and mechanics had a significant number of Black workers in its ranks.
This history was brought to life in ATU 998’s latest contract fight. From the beginning, and increasingly through the struggle, ATU 998 leaders employed a social-union approach, which sparked mass support from a wide variety of progressive forces, many of whom are anti-capitalist and anti-racist.
During the course of the months-long battle, youth, students and many labor-community supporters assisted ATU 998 with outreach, social media, rally support, media coverage, making banners and placards, and providing supplies during the work stoppage. Tactics included mass rallies, picket lines, marches that took the streets, petitions, social media campaigns, packing hearings and more. The union also received a range of national progressive media support, including articles in Workers World and interviews with the Labor Forum radio show in Atlanta. (facebook.com/LaborForumWrfg)
A decisive component of the struggle was major support provided by the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association and the Coalition For Justice, a Black Lives Matter coalition in Milwaukee.
For more information, see facebook.com/ATU-Local-998 or atu998.org.
Download the PDF. Campus revolts inspire anti-imperialist solidarity Editorial: Behind repression of campus occupations: Follow…
Should anyone have illusions that the United States is a bastion of democracy, those illusions…
Reports from Workers World correspondents, supplemented by social media, give a feel of the breadth…
New York City The Korean American Solidarity Peace March, held on April 27 in New…
Por Mumia Abu-Jamal La guerra contra Gaza ha entrado ya en su sexto mes y…
Faced with the ongoing U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in occupied Gaza that has claimed the lives…