Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

The Friendly Skies? Airline pilots work conditions and public safety
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRDUAx9ew04
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The Friendly Skies? Airline pilots work conditions and public safety
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thericksmithshow | August 31, 2010
Rick talks to MEC Chairman Chuck Martinak about the state of the airline industry since deregulation, working conditions, and the union's contract negotiations. The Rick Smith Show Where Working People Come to Talk
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American Mechanics Shoot Down Tentative Agreement, Move Closer to Strike

http://www.bnet.com/blog/airline-business/american-mechanics-shoot-down-tentative-agreement-move-closer-to-strike/2206
American Mechanics Shoot Down Tentative Agreement, Move Closer to Strike
By Brett Snyder | August 27, 2010Comments

The apparent labor peace atAmerican Airlines (AMR) is looking more like a temporary blip. In the latest development,American’s mechanics and stores clerks have handily defeated “tentative” contract terms presented by their union leaders, making a strike vote highly likely — even though the feds would most likely put the kibosh on any actual work stoppage.

Airline labor relationships are incredibly messy thanks to the governing Railway Labor Act. This law effectively means that airline (and rail) labor contracts never expire. They just become amendable, so there’s no urgency. Management and labor generally poke along at negotiations for years. In most cases, a tentative agreement will, at some point, be presented to the membership for a vote. If it fails, negotiations continue for a while longer until the sides declare an impasse and workers go on strike. The president can legally bar a strike, and with airlines growing larger and larger, it’s doubtful that the Obama administration would allow one at any of the big guys.

First Black Rail Labor Union Marks Milestone And The Redbaiting Of Leftists
Re: First Black Labor Union Marks Milestone

by Jean Damu

I salute all the tributes and accolades conferred upon
our first mostly Black union (Phillipinos were also
members, as well as women-so, so much for
"brotherhood.") However, as a former member of the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters who worked in the
Colorado Division of the Santa Fe Railroad out of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, I have to admit it gets a
little tiresome reading constant and continual incorrect
references to the Pullman Porters Union and never any
holistic political assessment to the political stances
of A. Philip Randolph and the acolyte who sat at his
right hand, Bayard Rustin.

George Pullman, the founder of the Pullman Car Co. was a
racist who sent his agents throughout the postbellum
South hiring formerly enslaved Blacks to work on his
Pullman cars. Ingeniously he made a specialty of hiring
the darkest skinned Blacks available. He wanted the
class distinctions to be as stark as possible and
thought the darkest Blacks would be the most grateful
for the job and cause the fewest labor problems. His
thinking proved accurate for a time.

First Black Labor Union Marks Milestone
http://www.blackradionetwork.com/page.php?storyID=16263

First Black Labor Union Marks Milestone

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- On August 25th, 1925 the trajectory of African American and American history was changed forever. On that date, a group of Pullman porters formed the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, America's first African American labor union.

One of those porters, 99-year-old Linus Scott, described the job as "miles of smiles, years of struggle." This 85th anniversary celebrates the life and work of this remarkable group of men.

The founding of the Brotherhood was an important milestone in the labor movement, which had previously been all white. But more importantly, it laid the foundation for the modern civil rights movement, by proving that blacks could organize and achieve tangible results.

The Pullman porters worked on the Pullman train sleeper cars. They greeted passengers, carried luggage, made the beds, tidied the cars, served food and drink, shined shoes and were available night and day to wait on the passengers. Since they often worked 20-hour long days and were paid only $67.50 a month, they depended on tips to make enough money to support their families.

Transit riders to assemble to demand a user-based transit system in Austin

 AUSTIN, Texas (August 23, 2010
Buss Riders Union/El Sindicato de Pasajeros Austin Texas

Media contact: For Imiedate release
Mac McKaskle
Macchire@yahoo.com
512-767-5910

Transit riders to assemble to demand a user-based transit system in Austin

 AUSTIN, Texas (August 23, 2010) - The Bus Riders Union-Austin Texas will host a stockholders meeting to develop plans to restructure the antiquated and unproductive bus and rail services that currently constitute Austin's public transit system.  As Austin has become a major urban area, it still retains a transit system based on small-town schedules and old Jim Crow-era routes. On September 18, at University Baptist Church, the Bus Riders Union of Austin will host a general assembly of the stockholders in Austin’s transit system to learn how tax-paying citizen-owners of the system can produce a transit system that gets people from where they are to where they want to be, when they want to be there.
In Austin , the system owners are often the last people who seem to matter in the running of transit, resulting in an inadequate system that results in a defeatist attitude that produces a “we have no choice” mind-set among Austinites needing a modern system that reflects the uniqueness of our city. The first Austin Public Transit Stockholders meeting will address these issues in transit in a five-hour open forum on September 18.  Sessions discussing how the transit system works, how it is affected by governmental policy, the nuisance tax of fares, how to organize power to win, and the system-wide way to improve service routing and scheduling, will be lead by community organizer Mac McKaskle, transit expert Richard Brooks, transit worker Glenn Gaven, and others. These sessions will be followed by a general assembly with speakers scheduled to include community leaders Richard Troxil, Steven Bayers, Stephanie Thomas and Bob Kafka.

Women at Houston Port Win a Round in Potty Wars
http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2010/08/women-houston-port-win-round-potty-wars
Women at Houston Port Win a Round in Potty Wars
by Andrea Gardner | Wed, 08/04/2010 - 11:14am

On the door it says “Women’s Room.” The lock is broken on the inside, so you walk in to a darkly painted, dimly lit room. The broken toilet seat is up and the bowl is full of urine from the last visitor who obviously was male. Rolls of toilet paper sit on the floor next to it. One wall is smeared with ancient dried feces, again today there is no soap, and the one cold water spigot drips in a grimy sink with old soap scum covering the wall next to it. There are no paper towels in the long-broken holder. The return vents in the ceiling are covered with years of grime. The ceiling tiles are pushed over and a steady drip from the air conditioning overflow makes the floor wet in front of the commode. The whole room reeks and is a bacterial nightmare.

What makes these conditions worse is the struggle just getting to a bathroom at all. Sometimes it takes a hike down a 60-foot gangway from a ship as long as a football field. Houston summers often get up to 100 or more degrees, and standing on steel or concrete makes it even hotter.

Tucson IBT 104 Union Transit pickets challenge opponents of bus strike
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/article_18317006-24a3-5048-a456-b7904e7741a5.html
Union pickets shout down opponents of bus strike

Rob O'Dell Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 12:00 am | Comments

GREG BRYAN / ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Teamster Joe Hernandez, center, was among the pickets Monday at the city government complex at South Park Avenue and East Ajo Way. At a downtown bus-transfer center Monday, strikers shouted down anti-strike speakers representing the poor.
On the first day of the strike against Sun Tran, picketing city transit workers verbally battled critics of a proposed bus-system transfer to the Regional Transportation Authority during a downtown press conference Monday.
As a coalition of speakers representing low-income riders voiced fears about such a transfer, about 50 Teamsters beat the wooden stakes holding their picket signs on the pavement around the Ronstadt Transit Center and shouted "RTA, RTA!" in an attempt to drown them out.
Although it's not officially part of the contract negotiations, the biggest issue between the union and the company that manages Sun Tran for the city of Tucson is a proposed transfer of bus service to the RTA. Union representatives said they believe the transfer would protect them from Tucson's ongoing budget crisis.

8 Reported Dead in Workplace Shooting At Teamster Organized Warehouse In Manchester CT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/nyregion/04shooting.html?_r=1&hp
People were evacuated from Hartford Distributors in Manchester, Conn., on Tuesday after at least eight people were killed in a workplace shooting there.
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: August 3, 2010

At least eight people are dead after an employee summoned for a disciplinary hearing opened fire at a beer distributor in Manchester, Conn., Tuesday morning, the police said.

Police were at the company, Hartford Distributors, trying to determine the total number of fatalities, and Lt. J. Paul Vance of theConnecticut State Police’s public information office said that one of the dead was the suspected gunman. “We do know that the suspect is deceased and there are several other fatalities at the facility,” Lieutenant Vance said.

He said that the suspect went on a rampage in the warehouse, then “probably” turned the gun on himself. “We’re still piecing a lot of it together now,” he said. According to Sgt. Sandy Ficara of the Manchester Police Department, “At least eight are dead, and we’re trying to make contact with some of the families now.”

Top local Teamster In Minneapolis splits with Hoffa on his slate
http://www.startribune.com/business/99670394.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

Top local Teamster splits with Hoffa

Longtime Twin Cities labor leader Tom Keegel dropped out of the union's leadership campaign after running three times as Hoffa's No. 2 man.

By MIKE HUGHLETT, Star Tribune
Last update: July 30, 2010 - 11:33 PM

Khue Bui, Associated Press

Veteran Twin Cities labor leader Tom Keegel has been at James P. Hoffa's side in the Teamsters union for 12 years.

The Hoffa-Keegel ticket -- with Hoffa as president and Keegel as the No. 2 man -- has won three elections and was gearing up for the 2011 campaign for leadership of the giant union.

But earlier this month, Keegel abruptly announced his impending retirement and his departure from the 2011 Hoffa ticket, questioning the direction of the union in a letter circulated to the union's leadership.

It marked the second recent outcropping of dissatisfaction among longtime -- and high-ranking -- Teamster supporters of Hoffa.

In May, Green Bay Teamsters leader Fred Gegare, a member of the union's executive board, announced he would challenge Hoffa in the 2011 election for president. At the time, he criticized Hoffa for surrounding himself with appointees who weren't elected by Teamster members.

Aging Transit Systems Face Budget Crunch
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/us/25transit.html?_r=1&ref=us
Aging Transit Systems Face Budget Crunch

Luke Sharrett/The New York Times
A passenger waiting for a train last week in the late evening sun on the platform at Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore.
By YEGANEH JUNE TORBATI
Published: July 24, 2010

More riders, aging mass transit systems and inadequate money for maintenance and upgrades — a familiar story line for commuters and those faced with the task of keeping the trains running. What is new this summer is that the problems are making headlines again, in part because of an extended heat wave that has smothered so much of the country.

It would take $77.7 billion just to get the country’s public transit systems into shape, according to a report released last week by theFederal Transit Administration. By comparison, the report stated, the entire amount spent on rehabilitating and reinvesting in public transit nationwide in 2008 was $12 billion to $13 billion.

With luck, riders would not have to contemplate these numbers on a train ride like the June trip endured by about 900 people going from jobs in Washington to homes in Maryland. Just minutes after pulling out of Union Station, the train got stuck — and stayed stuck for more than two hours.