Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

"Save Our Ride" Campaign Fights for Mass Transit

Enviros, community groups join unions for coast-to-coast rallies

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May 21, Cleveland: Amalgamated Transit Union members from Chicago join a spirited "Save Our Ride" rally. 

We’ve got a problem.

As elected leaders of America’s two largest transit unions, we’ve seen thousands of our members lose their jobs in communities across the country during the past 18 months.

But the crisis facing America’s mass transit systems isn’t just a problem for us – it’s a problem for everybody.

Why? 

·    Family budgets are pinched.
·    A huge oil spill is threatening Gulf Coast communities.
·    The reality of climate change is getting hotter every day. 

Transit jobs are green jobs – keeping cars off the road, reducing pollution, containing sprawl and improving air quality.  But instead of greening our communities with more and better transit alternatives, we’re doing just the opposite.

The American Public Transit Association reports that 84 percent of transit systems have increased fares, reduced service, laid off workers, or are considering some combination of these painful actions.

In July, New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority sent layoff notices to more than 600 workers, cutting bus service all over the city. Last year, there were over 1,000 layoffs at the Chicago Transit Authority.  The Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority has cut back 10 percent of its service, eliminating 40 bus routes.

Even manufacturing workers have been affected, with 500 layoffs at a Hornell, New York factory that produces rail cars.

Transit riders and transit workers have fallen victim to a triple whammy:

·    The epic recession of 2008 and 2009 has reduced state and local tax revenues.

·    With unemployment still hovering near 10 percent, fewer people are riding buses and trains to get to work, reducing revenue from fares.

·    Red tape in Washington ties the hands of transit officials who need flexibility to respond to local conditions. In communities, which serve more than 200,000 people, Federal transit funds can primarily be used for capital projects, not for operating funds. 

Because of these outdated restrictions, transit systems can use Uncle Sam’s money to buy new buses – even if there’s no money to put gas in the tank or to hire drivers to drive them. 

This is actually happening in Lorain, Ohio, where 13 brand-new buses, purchased last year with federal stimulus dollars, have yet to drive a single mile. Laketran, the local transit system, is short on operating funds.

A wrong turn? Of course, some short-sighted politicians say the only solution to the current funding crisis is to take money out of the pockets of transit workers:  Our wages, our pensions, our health care.

We don’t see it that way. We don’t apologize for negotiating contracts which offer secure, family-wage jobs for workers who provide a vital public service.  And we don’t think cutting wages and benefits, and eliminating job security is a real route to the quality, reliable service that transit riders deserve.

With our wages, our benefits, and our jobs under attack, it’s clear that our two unions have to work together as a single voice for affordable mass transit – and for quality transit jobs. It’s also clear that transit workers can’t win this fight ourselves. All stakeholders– taxpayers, riders, environmental groups, community organizations, transit officials – have to be part of the solution. 

Saving our ride:  When 1,000 transit layoffs hit Chicago last year, Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition -- with longstanding ties to organized labor and to the communities affected by transit cutbacks -- joined with ATU local unions to protest the job cuts.  

Since then, we invited Rev. Jackson to join the Save Our Ride campaign at rallies in cities across the country. He graciously accepted, lending his eloquence and organizing savvy to the fight for green jobs and cleaner communities.

We’ve also been joined by the Sierra Club in Ohio and Atlanta, Transit Riders United in Detroit, the Cuyahoga County Transportation Coalition in Cleveland, and host of other community, labor, environmental and advocacy organizations.

And although we’ve had our differences across the bargaining table, we’re also winning support from some –but not all -- transit officials, who are backing our call for greater flexibility in federal transit funding.

One highly visible example of labor-management cooperation took place in Atlanta on April 20, when workers and managers volunteered their time to paint red X’s on a third of MARTA’s buses and trains, showing the potential impact of service cuts.

Shortly after this eye-catching display, the Georgia state legislature passed long-delayed transit aid.  The package was not sufficient to prevent service cutbacks in Atlanta, but it did lessen their impact.

Shaping the debate:  In just a few short months, the Save Our Ride campaign has laid the groundwork for a national debate about mass transit.  Our activities include:

·    Rallies in cities across the country, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Miami, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington DC.

·    Winning public attention to the transit crisis in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall St. Journal and other media outlets.

·    Paid advertising to promote better transit funding in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts and Ohio.

·    A text message campaign, which anyone can join by texting OURRIDE to 69-866.  We’re building a national network of transit supporters, to help influence policy makers in Washington DC and around the country.

Our lobbying agenda:  Save Our Ride is backing two key pieces of federal legislation which will provide immediate aid to cash-starved transit systems:

·    The Public Transportation Preservation Act of 2010, (S.3412 and HR 5418).  Sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, and Rep. Michael McMahon, (D-NY) with eleven co-sponsors in the Senate.   The bill provides $2 billion in emergency aid to public transit systems throughout the U.S., to help reverse fare increases and service cuts.

·    HR 2746 and S 3189, allowing local control of federal transit funds. Sponsored by Rep. Russ Carnahan, (D-MO) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), with 133 co-sponsors in the House.  This legislation requires no new federal spending, but allows more flexiblity for funds already allocated.

Balanced, flexible federal funding for mass transit is a key element in resolving the current transit crisis. But the debate about the future of mass transit – which is really a debate about the future of our communities – has to stretch far beyond Washington DC, and beyond the confines of the labor movement.

We can’t afford, as a nation, to ignore the reality of climate change, the potential hazards of oil and gas exploration, and the destabilizing impact of foreign oil imports.  Affordable mass transit – on a much bigger scale than now exists in most American cities – is a vital part of any sensible energy and environmental policy.

ATU and TWU members plan to keep talking sense about transit, energy and green jobs in the months ahead.  We also intend to invite as many people as possible to join the conversation.

The writers are International Union Presidents, Ron Heintzman Amalgamated Transit Union (left) and James C. Little Transport Workers Union of America (right).