Freedom Socialist • Vol. 29, No. 1 • February-March 2008Seattle public workers resist sell-out contractsIn Seattle, Washington, public workers are fed up with concessionary contracts and the union leaders who keep negotiating them. In January, the city's transit workers faced a contract proposal that included a punitive and arbitrary discipline system, lengthening of the workday, a management drive for unreasonable scheduling "flexibility," and a paltry pay increase. Leaders of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 587 gave members only 10 days to review it, so rank-and-file organizers swung into action and drafted a leaflet that summarized the takeaways and laid out a strategy for winning a better deal. More than 125 members signed on to the leaflet and activists quickly fanned out across worksites to distribute it before the vote. When the dust settled, members of the 4,000-strong public transit local rejected the deal by a 54 percent margin. Now, the ad hoc group that organized the "No" vote is building a more formal rank-and-file caucus to continue the fight over the long haul. Meanwhile, members of Seattle's largest city workers' union, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 17, are fending off a contract that shifts more of the burden of funding the retirement system onto workers, and that provides inadequate raises and no protections against contracting out. When activists heard about the pension giveaway, they issued an educational flyer and gathered over 700 signatures on a petition to the mayor urging him to withdraw the proposal. A well-attended local union meeting took a position against the retirement concession. But union leaders forged ahead with the crummy deal and have given members only two weeks to read it before voting. Some members are pinning enlarged photocopies of the ballot they received in the mail to their shirts - with VOTE NO! scrawled across it -and wearing their opinion to work. Contract opponents have formed a group called "No Blank Checks: Preserve our Pensions and Strengthen Our Contract," and are blanketing workplaces with VOTE NO! flyers. For information, contact ATU 587 member Linda Averill at LindaEAverill@peoplepc.com or IFPTE member Doreen McGrath at doreenmcg@gmail.com. |
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