musa
23rd December 2005, 17:26
http://www.internationalist.org/nyctransitstrikers051221kww.jpg
TWU Union Tops Cave, Call Off Strike
DECEMBER 22 – Under pounding by the capitalist politicians and an orchestrated anti-union hate campaign in the bourgeois media, this afternoon the leadership of Transport Workers Union Local 100 caved in and called off the mass transit strike that in three days has thrown New York City into turmoil. The walkout, the first NYC transit strike in 25 years, shut down the largest subway system in the world, transporting 7 million passengers a day. Yet although the strike was 100 percent effective, Local 100 president Roger Toussaint accepted a state “mediator’s” recommendation, which was then endorsed by the union executive board, to send the members back to work. No details were released, but there was no provision for amnesty for strikers against penalties under the state’s strikebreaking Taylor Law.
TWU leaders proclaimed that “a deadline is a deadline,” but then ordered the membership to stay on the job past the midnight December 16 contract deadline. The union has a longstanding principle, chanted over and over by the strikers, of "no contract, no work." No contract agreement was reached, but the membership was ordered to take down the picket lines anyway. The press hints at a deal worked out behind the scenes, yet the executive board was given no specifics: they blindly voted on faith. Class-conscious workers reject secret deals negotiated behind the backs of the union ranks. And it should be clear to all that TWU workers are in a far weaker position to reject a giveback contract with the strike called off. The TWU leaders’ termination of the strike imperils the livelihoods and futures of the membership.
On the picket lines, supporters of the Internationalist Group have been given a warm welcome throughout. Our call for an all-out New York transport strike and daily strike updates have been well-received by hundreds of strikers at key locations around the city. Today at the mass picket outside the Kingsbridge bus depot and 207th Street subway yard in Upper Manhattan, TWUers cheered remarks by a member of the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York who called for the PSC to go out on strike alongside the TWU to smash the strikebreaking Taylor Law. Meanwhile, public opinion polls show that despite the media barrage and the racist smear campaign of the capitalist politicians, a majority of New Yorkers support the TWU's demands, and more blame the Metropolitan Transportation Authority than the union for the invoncenience of the strike.
The powerful economic effect of the strike rattled city bosses. The militant sentiment among the thousands of TWU picketers at dozens of locations around New York worried both MTA management and the TWU Local 100 leadership. Many Local 100 activists were unhappy over the back-to-work order. A worker at the 207th Street yard remarked: “We've been lied to and deceived" by the MTA and "I don't trust them. Bottom line: I'd rather wait." Union members there said if the bargaining doesn't come up with an acceptable agreement, they may go out on strike again. At the Casey Stengel bus depot in Queens where IG supporters leafletted in the afternoon, a driver remarked: “I feel like we lost if we go back to work without a contract."
We salute the New York transit workers for waging a powerful strike in defiance of draconian anti-labor laws, and urge the TWU ranks to throw back any giveback deal, insist on the union principle of “no contract, no work," and forge a class-struggle leadership.
[original statement as well as the daily leaflets put out by the Internationalist Group/U.S. are available at www.internationalist.org (http://www.internationalist.org).]
TWU Union Tops Cave, Call Off Strike
DECEMBER 22 – Under pounding by the capitalist politicians and an orchestrated anti-union hate campaign in the bourgeois media, this afternoon the leadership of Transport Workers Union Local 100 caved in and called off the mass transit strike that in three days has thrown New York City into turmoil. The walkout, the first NYC transit strike in 25 years, shut down the largest subway system in the world, transporting 7 million passengers a day. Yet although the strike was 100 percent effective, Local 100 president Roger Toussaint accepted a state “mediator’s” recommendation, which was then endorsed by the union executive board, to send the members back to work. No details were released, but there was no provision for amnesty for strikers against penalties under the state’s strikebreaking Taylor Law.
TWU leaders proclaimed that “a deadline is a deadline,” but then ordered the membership to stay on the job past the midnight December 16 contract deadline. The union has a longstanding principle, chanted over and over by the strikers, of "no contract, no work." No contract agreement was reached, but the membership was ordered to take down the picket lines anyway. The press hints at a deal worked out behind the scenes, yet the executive board was given no specifics: they blindly voted on faith. Class-conscious workers reject secret deals negotiated behind the backs of the union ranks. And it should be clear to all that TWU workers are in a far weaker position to reject a giveback contract with the strike called off. The TWU leaders’ termination of the strike imperils the livelihoods and futures of the membership.
On the picket lines, supporters of the Internationalist Group have been given a warm welcome throughout. Our call for an all-out New York transport strike and daily strike updates have been well-received by hundreds of strikers at key locations around the city. Today at the mass picket outside the Kingsbridge bus depot and 207th Street subway yard in Upper Manhattan, TWUers cheered remarks by a member of the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York who called for the PSC to go out on strike alongside the TWU to smash the strikebreaking Taylor Law. Meanwhile, public opinion polls show that despite the media barrage and the racist smear campaign of the capitalist politicians, a majority of New Yorkers support the TWU's demands, and more blame the Metropolitan Transportation Authority than the union for the invoncenience of the strike.
The powerful economic effect of the strike rattled city bosses. The militant sentiment among the thousands of TWU picketers at dozens of locations around New York worried both MTA management and the TWU Local 100 leadership. Many Local 100 activists were unhappy over the back-to-work order. A worker at the 207th Street yard remarked: “We've been lied to and deceived" by the MTA and "I don't trust them. Bottom line: I'd rather wait." Union members there said if the bargaining doesn't come up with an acceptable agreement, they may go out on strike again. At the Casey Stengel bus depot in Queens where IG supporters leafletted in the afternoon, a driver remarked: “I feel like we lost if we go back to work without a contract."
We salute the New York transit workers for waging a powerful strike in defiance of draconian anti-labor laws, and urge the TWU ranks to throw back any giveback deal, insist on the union principle of “no contract, no work," and forge a class-struggle leadership.
[original statement as well as the daily leaflets put out by the Internationalist Group/U.S. are available at www.internationalist.org (http://www.internationalist.org).]