Chicago, IL – The time for action is now. At least that is the opinion of workers at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Some of these workers formed the Justice Coalition, which held their second “Hour of Power” on February 23 at the Southside “L” Train 95th Street terminal. The demonstration called for hazard pay for CTA workers, no concession in the upcoming union contracts and safe working conditions.

“Safe working conditions means safe riding conditions,” said CTA bus driver Eric Struch. Struch is also a member of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241. Struck stressed the importance of solidarity in the upcoming contract negotiations. “We are sick and tired of going backwards. The Justice Coalition seeks to unite bus drivers with train operators in ATU Local 308. Our fight is not just for a living wage, but also for the safety of everyone.”

To accomplish these goals, the demonstration also made calls for union democracy, including restarting monthly union meetings virtually. Looking on the multinational demonstration, former ATU Local 241 President Tommy Sams remembered the 1968 fights with CTA and ATU to hire more African Americans: “While some were afraid as they undertook this action, they all recognized that there is power in numbers. That is one of the main reasons they were successful.”

Since that time, transit has changed dramatically – even the composition of the local union has changed. Union workers are close to 40% women and over 90% oppressed nationality (Black and Latino).

“If we called it racism when the Caucasians held office and as a result [of their actions], public transit services showed disparity in certain neighborhoods,” Sams continued, “what do we call it when people of color continue this behavior with greater intensity? The riding public needs to know the pressures that CTA frontline employees work under daily. That's why we're here today.”

A major part of the demonstration was outreach to the riding public with copies of a Fight Back! article about the previous Hour of Power demonstration in December.

According to Chicago ATU dissident publication Finally Got the News, ATU Local 234’s Forward caucus in Philadelphia declared their own Hour of Power at the same time. It is important for workers in different cities, states and countries to support each other when they demonstrate. That is called solidarity!

The Justice Coalition and Finally Got the News plan on keep on fighting. The next Hour of Power demonstration will be at CTA’s Howard Street Red Line L train terminal on the North Side.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #ChicagoTransitAuthority

The CTA executives at treat our union sisters and brothers as if they were expendable. Most think this is because the majority are oppressed nationalities, that is, Black or Latino.

It would be a mistake to think that the class war that CTA is waging against workers is something that just originated with CTA President Dorval Carter. Carter is an appointee of the CTA Board. He was put there by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She answers to the real bosses in this city – the corporations that run the big-box stores, the warehouses, the restaurants and hotels, the convention centers and the other places of work.

These corporate leaders want cheap public transportation to get their workers to their jobs. This does not mean a fare cut for the public. No, it means the amount of tax money they're willing to allocate to run the public transportation infrastructure that we all use.

Union members are angry about how they have been treated during the pandemic. “Dorval Carter doesn’t want to spend the money it would cost to keep our union sisters, brothers and the riding public safe from COVID-19,” said Eric Struch, “They lie to us about cleaning the buses thoroughly.” CTA has had no COVID-19 testing regimen for union workers. “Despite being frontline workers, we haven't received hazard pay,” Struch exclaimed. To make matters worse, the criteria for calling in sick during the pandemic has become increasingly restrictive, so people have been coming to work sick.

Before Dorval Carter, former CTA President Forrest Claypool stripped workers of our quality healthcare. Claypool tried the same things at the Chicago Park District and Chicago Public Schools, all positions appointed by the mayor. It's all a big game to these corporate bosses.

Workers who are sick and tired of this treatment have formed the Justice Coalition, which fights for rank-and-file members of ATU Local 308 and Local 241. Justice Coalition members have restarted a rank-and-file newsletter called Finally Got the News. This name comes from a documentary film about a powerful movement of militant Black UAW workers in the 1960s.

Through all this ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill has done little. Many think he takes his orders from Dorval Carter. He has been involved in highly questionable dealings with union member money. Many union members questioned his purchase of the former Morgan Elementary School, which was done with union funds with the collusion of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's crony Jack Lanahan.

The Justice Coalition demands that CTA provide safe working conditions and hazard pay back to the start of the pandemic. We want our union leadership to join us in these demands.

The Justice Coalition’s main demand is time that our union Locals 241 and 308 return to virtual union mass meetings. The union has not had a mass membership meeting since the beginning of the pandemic, and we need to involve the rank and file in the running of our own union.

Contract negotiations are here. The contract is already expired for trains, and bus drivers will be in negotiations soon. Our power is in the unity of our members. Without us there is no CTA. We call on our union to work with us to organize to fight for better wages, better health insurance and safety on the job.

The Justice Coalition protested December 22 in an “Hour of Power” to restart union meeting virtually. ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill unfortunately refused to speak to us, instead calling the cops on us. ATU Local 308 member Eric Basir said, “The 'Hour of Power' demonstration was a loud last chance for our union presidents to re-start union meetings and help members determine their destiny.” Brother Eric described the goals of the Justice Coalition and Finally Got the News as working towards “inspiring co-workers to organize and fight for their rights. We want to inspire our co-workers to make our unions feared by the powers that be.”

It's time to stop cozying up to Dorval Carter and the politicians that control him. The Justice Coalition is planning another powerful public demonstration in favor of union democracy and against the CTA bosses and city bureaucrats on February 23 at the 95th Street Red Line terminal in Chicago. As our late Oakland ATU Local 192 brother Oscar “Double O” Owens would've said, “We're fired up and ready to go!”

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #ChicagoTransitAuthority

Chicago, IL – Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has a pro-capitalist, neoliberal agenda and it's no secret that his priority in this city are the wealthy residents of posh lakefront neighborhoods like the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Lakeview. He works for the banks and the multi-billion-dollar corporations like Boeing, who are getting fat off of government welfare that comes out of our pockets. Rahm never met a racist, killer cop he didn't love. He going to have a tough time getting re-elected, and his only real competition right now is the reactionary ex-top cop Garry McCarthy, so he wants smooth sailing and no problems from struggling Chicago Transit Authority workers or militant Chicago Public School teachers.

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval Carter did Rahm a real solid by ramming through a new contract with Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) bus operators Local 241 and rail operations Local 308. ATU Locals 241 and 308 have been without a contract for over two years. Sometimes the corporate-controlled media lets a little truth slip through, as when Chicago Sun-Times writer Fran Spielman said, “labor peace is now locked in at the CTA through the 2019 mayoral and aldermanic election.” ( Sun-Times, 2/14/18)

Significant pressure by city hall was brought to bear on the ATU Local 241 administrations of President Keith Hill and 308 President Kenneth Franklin to go ahead with a mediocre contract that failed to win anything significant for the membership. The gun of interest arbitration was pointed at the heads of the locals’ membership when they voted for the contract. The arbitrator was Philadelphia lawyer Ralph Colflesh, whose last accomplishment was getting six racist, drug-dealing Philly cops off after they were fired for RICO conspiracy and civil rights violations (Phillymag.com, Joel Mathis, 7/15/15). ATU Local 308 President Franklin understands that “CTA's got money. The money doesn't dry up. The money doesn't disappear. It's all a matter of where the money's going to be moved.” (Spielman, Sun-Times)

CTA, whose bonds are performing exceptionally well while it is engaged in defrauding the federal government by artificially inflating ridership numbers, has used the two-year period where both ATU locals were without a contract to engage in a campaign of rolling takebacks. 241's President Keith Hill is proud of the fact the fact that the new contract freezes healthcare contributions for the life of the agreement, which expires on Dec. 31, 2019, and that it provides much-needed relief to the membership. That said, the health insurance premiums went up three times in the past two years, and the rank and file is stuck with the inferior Cigna coverage that was imposed by former CTA president and Rahm buddy Forrest Claypool.

Claypool seems to have a very special relationship to Cigna. He forced Chicago Public Schools teachers to accept that garbage coverage too, after his tenure at CTA was over. Most of the takebacks that CTA workers have had to swallow have come from previous contracts that were imposed through arbitration or rolled out in the two years where there was no contract, so many voted “yes” to avoid the obvious risks that going back to arbitration carried. Very few people seemed to be genuinely enthusiastic about the deal, though.

There is also dissatisfaction with the Hill administration, and a sense of wasted opportunities. A rank-and-file 241 oppositional newsletter called Finally Got the News has published several issues this year, and operators at Chicago garage are saying things like, “...if we would've went on strike, we would've gotten everything we wanted!” Many CTA workers are in a fighting mood – they just need a leadership that is willing to give voice and organizational strength to that sentiment.

Eric Struch is a rank-and-file member of ATU Local 241.

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Chicago, IL – The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is sharpening its knives, ready to come after mechanics, bus and train operators in Amalgamated Transit Union Locals 241 and 308. According to 308 President and Business Agent Kenneth Franklin, there has been no contract since Dec. 31, 2015. CTA has been pushing for takebacks in every area in negotiations, and according to Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241, the CTA “has evidenced no intention of reaching a fair agreement voluntarily.”

The CTA wants the unlimited ability to subcontract work and to expand the usage of part-time employees beyond their home garages. They want to eliminate any guarantee of working hours in the contract. In addition to this, CTA is pushing for no wage increases until as late as 2019.

Not satisfied with former CTA chief Forrest Claypool's dumping of Blue Cross Blue Shield in favor of his one-percenter cronies at Cigna, they have also proposed dramatically increasing deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. The vast majority of the members of Locals 241 and 308 are Black, and these contract proposals, called “unreal” by 241, should be seen in context as an attack on oppressed Black communities on Chicago's West and South sides.

To bring the rank-and-file into the struggle, ATU Locals 241 and 308 called for a rally and press conference, Nov. 17, in front of CTA headquarters at 567 W Lake Street. The rally was well attended. Present were Tommy Sams, 241 president and business agent; Carlos Acevedo, 241 financial recording secretary; Kenneth Franklin, 308 president and business agent; and 241 executive board members Erek Slater and Danell Pender-Bey.

In his speech at the rally, Sams said, “We're proud that we make the lives of our hard-working Chicagoans work. We're hard-working too at the same time. We need to let the public know that we've been working without a contract for one year. Let's keep the city moving forward, and let's get a new contract and a fair contract!”

#ChicagoIL #ATU #ChicagoTransitAuthority