Local 1027 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing 220 Fresno bus drivers, backed down in a fight with Mayor Ashley Swearengin over contract negotiations. The contract for about 220 FAX drivers expired in June 2011. Months of negotiations stalled with the city demanding concessions -- pay cuts, reform of overtime rules, more help with health-care premiums. The union wanted the status quo, saying its members had gone more than four years without a raise according to a report in the Fresno Bee.
Rick Steitz, president of Local 1027 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, had initially worked out a deal with the City that included a 3% salary cut and overtime rules that were somewhat favorable to the Union. This didn't go over well with the Drivers and around 100 of them showed up at a labor hall in December and voted down the proposal by a 2-to-1 margin. One driver of 23 years said that he'd "rather stand up and fight them than get on my knees and have them beat me up." At the same time the drivers sanctioned the ATU to call a strike. The Mayor's response was to impose a 3% salary cut and tougher overtime rules.
Steitz claims that after the Mayor's imposition of new contract rules several driver's came forward and told him they were sorry they voted down the initial proposal. So instead of mobilizing the membership and opting for strike action, he went back to the Mayor's office and asked that the driver's be given a second chance to vote on the December proposal. On Thursday the drivers voted by a nearly 2-to-1 margin to accept the same one-year deal they had defiantly shot down in mid-December.
There were good reasons for Local 1027 leadership to pursue strike action or other job actions rather than rolling over as they did to the implacable position taken by the City in contract negotiations. By state law a mediator/fact finder had to be called in to investigate the dispute and make recommendations. It is significant that in the their Report the independent fact finder did not support pay cuts to the workers saying that “These employees have gone four years without a wage increase in this unit, where other employees in this same unit have gotten wage increases." Another issue that the City raised in negotiations was what they perceived as a high rate of absenteeism which was driving up overtime costs. The real reason however had more to do with work related injuries arising from poor or out dated equipment and repetitive strain injuries. On any given day according to the union there would be between 13 to 23 employees off on work injury.
Like everywhere else the City of Fresno is taking part in the frenzy of Austerity politics and looking to download costs on workers. One of the ways this is being done in Fresno is to turn transit operations into an enterprise department so that it is entirely a fee based service. As a result the enterprise fund has been losing about $1.2 million a year because the gasoline tax, state, federal grants that provide the additional funding for operations were all dropping due to the economy. The funding problem was further exacerbated because the City has been reluctant to raise transit fares. The last fare increase came in 2011 and prior to that there had been no increases in fares for the prior 10 years. Further restrictions to properly fund transit operations are due to a municipal cash flow problem brought about not only by a shortage of revenue, but by the past administration’s decision to float revenue bonds to help pay for a baseball stadium, parking garage and other city projects. City officials say those bonds just about doubled the general fund debt service.
In order to deal with the revenue shortfall the city says it has to bring its expenses in line with its revenues. The plan includes $2.5 million in franchise fees from the privatization of garbage collection and waste disposal services, and getting compensation reductions from all city employees across the board.
Combine all the above with a weak union leadership that seems to treat the membership as a rubber stamp for decisions made by the executive board and the rank and file gets sold out. That there are problems with the leadership of ATU Local 1027 became evident recently when the former secretary-treasurer was arrested in December of 2012 on charges of embezzling union funds and submitting false financial reports according to the Fresno Bee. From April 2006 to April 2009, Adam C. Raimer, 42, of Madera allegedly used his position as the union's secretary-treasurer to make unauthorized purchases for his own use from Office Depot, including big screen TVs, cameras, and a GPS navigator, according to an indictment that was handed down in August. He also allegedly used a union account to pay his personal cell phone bill and PG&E utility bill. The loss to ATU Local 1027 is alleged to be more than $41,000. Union president Rick Steitz has declined to comment on the arrest and to date the International has taken no action.
Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, there is no acceptable reason for a union to bargain concessions. The results of concession bargaining over the last two decades should stand as proof that concessions do not benefit workers, and the results here with the Frenso bus drivers is further proof of this. Where union leaders have bought in to management's campaign as they did in Fresno, "message discipline" from the union office will help to persuade the membership until it eventually capitulates and accepts the employer's terms. The gloom and doom is always positioned as if it were fact although for the most part, it is highly speculative, grossly oversimplified and designed to spread fear, uncertainty and a sense that cuts are inevitable and workers should be happy to have jobs on any terms. It's important not to fall prey to the psychological manipulation of "message discipline" or get caught up in distracting talk about unprofitable operations. The admission by Local 1027 president Rick Steitz, that the proposed contract "is the best answer for the situation at this time" is a clear indication that the membership of 1027 didn't have a chance going into this round of contract negotiations.
What happened to the city bus drivers in Fresno should be a lesson for rank and file members in all unions. Don't leave the task of negotiations to your leadership alone. It is vitally important for rank and file members to set up a communications system so that they can keep one another informed about what is going on in contract negotiations. This is even more important where the union leadership operates as secret society that excludes the membership from participating in the negotiating process. The first step is to get organized and set up a contact list. This can be as simple as collecting e-mail addresses or setting up a Facebook group.
Once you have a list of contacts and a way of getting the message out here are some further suggestions from the people at Uncharted:
If you're hearing noises about concessions:
(i) Find out what's going on: Be sure to attend any meetings management is holding with workers to talk about the business, and any meetings that your union is having, to discuss negotiations.
(ii) Ask your union leaders if management is going to be seeking concessions and what the union's position on this will be.
(iii) Make it clear that you are opposed to concessions. Get that message across every time the subject comes up.
(iii) Educate your fellow members about what's really up when it comes to concessions. By presenting a united front to management (and union leaders who may have bought-in) you can minimize the possibility that your hard-won gains will be bartered away because management isn't doing its job.
(iv) Remind anyone trying to persuade you to accept rollbacks of the following three simple points:
(a) the real financial position of the business as presented in their own documents;
(b) that it is management's job to make the business profitable;
(c) that wage concessions have never helped workers and you have no reason to believe that they will benefit you.
(a) the real financial position of the business as presented in their own documents;
(b) that it is management's job to make the business profitable;
(c) that wage concessions have never helped workers and you have no reason to believe that they will benefit you.
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