Strike Oct 10 Labor Community Rally For BART Workers-Stop Concessions-No Contract No Work

Strike Oct. 10
NO CONTRACT - NO WORK!
All Transit workers out! Fight to Win!

AC Transit workers from ATU 192 voted down concessionary contracts twice. If there is no agreement Oct. 10, BART workers of ATU 1555 and SEIU 1021 must strike along with AC Transit workers to shut the Bay Area down tight! No more contract extensions! The assault on our living standards, jobs and benefits can be stopped by linking up with other workers and the working class community.

No Concessions!
All workers need benefits and wages paid by employers. Either BART and AC Transit workers will unite and walk together to fight concessions or be forced into a race to the bottom with poor benefits paid out-of-pocket. The unions should fight for all workers, including immigrant workers, to have a living wage with social benefits.

Rally at West Oakland BART Station
If there is a strike the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee will be organizing a rally for all transport workers and their supporters at 5PM on the first evening of the strike at the West Oakland BART station. BART’s threatened strikebreaking must be stopped!

Defend George Figueroa!
George Figueroa, the courageous July strike coordinator for ATU 1555, is being victimized by BART. There can be no tentative agreement until George gets reinstated with full back pay. Amnesty is a basic union principle. We must defend our own!

Join with the Community!
Restore the cuts to AC Transit lines. Slash public transit fares. Make it affordable for working people. Tax the wealthy developers who profit from BART expansions. The rally should hear from the family of Oscar Grant, the young black man killed by BART police in 2009. Others from the community should speak on an open mike at the podium.

http://www.transportworkers.org (labor donated) October 7, 2013


No Concessions!
It’s Time to Play Hardball!
September 30, 2013

BART management is playing hardball and so can we. BART is demanding cuts to our real wages without adjusting for cost of living. BART will not agree to basic safety demands such as tunnel lighting, endangering riders and workers. BART wants us to pay more for health benefits and to pay in for pensions even though we are not covered by Social Security. Four years ago BART received $100 million in concessions from us. Today they have a $125 million a year operating surplus, yet they demand concessions.

Why are BART Union officials and negotiators volunteering to make concessions? Our bargaining teams just made an offer to management that would reduce our wage demands by 2.5% per year, increase our payments for health benefits by 15% and includes a “swap” on pensions that encourages management to reduce or even dispose of the pension plan.

Recall the sellout negotiators now!

No More Concessions! In 2011 thousands of public workers converged on the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin to fight Governor Scott Walker’s union-busting proposals. It was a historic moment in Labor history. But their Union officials, along with the Democratic Party, sold the workers out. Their Unions negotiators offered concessions to Walker. Each time a concession was made, Walker wanted more. That’s what BART managers management is doing to us. Members have a right to attend and observe bargaining. It is time to say, “No More Wisconsins!”

Stop Concessionary Bargaining!

1. Attend ATU LOCAL 1555's Special Meeting Sept. 30. The meeting will be held at the Trans Pacific Center, 1000 Broadway (at 10th St.) Oakland.

2. We demand full transparency. We demand a complete report after every bargaining session.

3. We demand accountability; our negotiators must make no further concessions. Recall and replace union officials who don't represent us.

4. We demand an emergency membership meeting in order for the membership to vote down all concessionary offers.

5. We must rally all working people and the community to prepare to beat back the attack on all workers, starting with the BART workers.

No more austerity cuts!

Currently there are thousands of Union workers working without a contract. If we lose, they’re going down with us. Our communities will also suffer with increased fares and unsafe riding conditions. We all need to stand together in our struggle for a living wage, free quality health care, and retirement with dignity. This can happen if there is a political willingness to cut fares through taxation of developers and corporations whose property values increase sharply as a result of BART expansion.

6. We need to prepare now for an all-out strike on October 10th, starting with an appeal to AC Transit workers (ATU 192) to support our struggle with a solidarity strike. AC Transit workers recently voted down a concessionary deal and are working without a contract. We need to also appeal to all other Bay Area transit workers to honor our picket lines. A strike honored by transit workers, supported by Labor with community support, will blow management’s demands for concessions off the table and out the door. It would strike a blow for all working people: the employed, unemployed, and underemployed.

7. We need to reach out to all of the members of SEIU 1021 and AFSCME, along with other ATU Locals in Northern California, to insure our struggle is not isolated.

8. BART management is training strikebreakers. The Union movement must be mobilized to stop them. We need to let union busters know that the Bay Area will not be another Wisconsin!

We have the power to turn the tide!
We must use it to win!

Yuri Hollie, Executive Board and Negotiating Committee ATU 1555
Dennis Acma, Negotiating Committee
Alan Derman, former Vice President 1555 (retired)
George Figueroa, former ATU 1555 strike coordinator and steward
Dana Mims, Steward
Scott Morrison, Steward and August 1 Rally Organizer
Gene Pepi, former Vice President (retired)
Charles Duran
Chris Hudson
John O’Connor, Contra Costa Labor Council delegate