Our Power Is Our Members, We Need You to Get Involved!
To the Sisters and Brothers of ATU Local 689,
Every day when I talk to our members, I'm reminded by how much we have achieved as a Local. From winning historic strikes at Cinder Bed Road and MV Call Center, to historic contracts at DASH & WMATA, we've become one of the strongest transit union locals on the continent. But at the same time, I am also overwhelmed by how much more work we have ahead of us over the coming years. The task ahead of us is too big. We can't do it alone, without a membership that fully understands what needs to get done and why. With this letter, I hope to take the time for members to better understand where I come from and how to understand your role to play in the future of the labor movement.
Many transit workers seem to casually view their fellow transit workers as the enemy. This is dangerous and wrong. It's not uncommon to hear things like, "They stole our work!" or "They took XYZ route!" Who is it we refer to when we say that? We can't afford to be imprecise with our words. There is not a single transit worker in this region that took work from another transit worker. We can not make a clear plan to fight back if we don't start from this understanding. We must always know who are friends are and who our opponents are.
Our opponents are the private companies, the elected officials, the transit planners, and the managers that wake up every day and go to work in their personal cars and think about ways to make public transit a footnote in history. These people are the ones who actually take work from well-paid public transit workers and give them to bottom-feeding private contractors. Why do they do it? Some do it to make money. Some do it to win campaign donations. Others do it because they hate unions. Not a single transit worker gets consulted in this process. Our opponents know that they win when they can split the transit workers of this region into smaller and smaller groups with less power.
Our allies are the transit workers of this region! We all work in the same labor market. When PG County complains that they can't find school bus drivers, they explicitly mention its because WMATA pays more. When an arbitrator looks at our wage rates, they compare WMATA's wage rate to every other system in this region, even those in other parts of the country. We're all in this together! What happens at RideOn effects us all. What happens at The Bus effects us all. What happens at ART effects us all. It's transit workers and our supporters vs. our opponents. Those are the only two teams!
So if we understand that our opponents will try to pit us against each other, how can we fight back? We need to be there for each other, standing side by side as transit workers to fight for contracts that eliminate the economic incentive that elected officials use to justify their privatization schemes. This can't be done from the sidelines or on social media. This requires us to show up and get involved by canvassing, volunteering, or walking a picket line!
But this isn't just a dream! This is our own history! Public transit didn't just appear because politicians said it would be convenient. Public transit was the result of decades of organizing by transit workers and riders, including our own Local 689, that forced private transit companies to become unviable. Our own Local through strikes and organizing the private companies of the region was part of the very reason WMATA was created in the first place!
We can never forget that it was organized transit workers that helped make the public transit systems we all know and fight for today! It was organized transit workers that helped prove that private transit companies were unsustainable and both riders and workers would be better served by publicly owned and accountable systems. But our opponents wouldn't let our victory be permanent. They immediately began to try to divide transit workers by splitting the systems that we helped build. They guessed correctly that thousands of workers divided were easier to defeat than thousands of workers united. It's been their playbook since the 1970s.
But we're not going to let our opponents win! We've fought to make private transit workers part of the public sector before and we can do it again! We can do it by organizing the transit workers of this region until no one can move a bus around the nation's capital without paying a family-sustaining wage and offering a well-funded pension! To do this, we'll need to align contracts so our opponents can't pit MetroAccess garage against MetroAccess garage or shuttle worker against shuttle worker. As we do that we'll need to run serious, well organized, and well resourced campaigns that rally members to take action and fight for everything that they deserve. Then after we've raised the wages and working conditions of the different systems in our region, we can apply pressure to bring these workers into the public sector. It may sound simple and straightforward on paper, but we should never underestimate how much work lies ahead of us. I don't doubt for a minute that this is possible, because I believe in Local 689 and the power of organized workers to achieve almost anything.
What is your role to play in all of this? You're probably used to hearing our union say "We need your help!" or "Get involved!" but we're serious. We need your help! Get involved! The only way to win these fights ahead of us is through members helping out. Whether it's canvassing on the weekends to help make sure we elect labor-friendly politicians, showing up to a rally to support your fellow members of Local 689, or even just volunteering to distribute flyers and important information to other workers at your location. Local 689 has to be a well-oiled machine capable of turning members in organizers that understand what's at stake.
Also in this edition of The 689 Informer were some inspiring organizing campaigns led by Starbucks Workers in Upstate New York. We have coverage of some of the first new MetroRail expansion proposals in years along with updates on public transit projects across the region. We cover ways that fare-free transit might impact our members. We also cove the MetroAccess Call Center and how they won large wage increases after their one day strike in May. We talk about the upcoming Virginia Elections, the push for zero-emissions vehicles, and how to understand the coach & shuttle industry.
All this and more in October's edition of The 689 Informer! We hope to provide you the information you need to understand what the union is up against and how you can help! Never hesitate to reach out to the Union Hall if you have questions. Our number is 301-568-6899.
In Solidarity,
Raymond N. Jackson
President and Business Agent
