S.F. bus drivers slam the brakes on takebacks
1985 1985-10Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 5
Labor Day march draws 15,000 in Grand Rapids For the first time in 34 years workers in Grand Rapids, Mich., marched inrougn town to celebrate Labor Day. I25 units trom local unions and other workers formed a parade of over 15,000 marchers. One unionist commented, "It is good to see people come down for this. I am very surprised, and it makes you Leonard Woodcock, former UAW International President addressed the rally SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1985 5 port from delegates at the Minnesota AFL-CIO State Convention on Sept. 2224. They organized a 300-strong contingent of Hormel workers to spread the word about the strike to the delegates and were able to prevent the state AFL-CIO leadership from ignoring it.
The state leadership seems to be backing efforts by the UFCW International to stop this strike from becoming a rallying point. But many union activists realize that the strike is the most important battle labor is fighting in Minnesota. They sense the outcome of the P-9 strike could affect the entire labor movement here.
In another development, P-9 was able to halt Hormel from preventing the union's "corporate campaign" of informational leafleting at First Bank Systems. The union has been aggressively leafleting to inform the community of the inhuman policies of the Hormel Co. and its financial partner-First Bank.
CANADA MINNESOTA Duluth WISCONSIN Minneapolis St. Paul Austin o IOWA NEB.
SAN FRANCISCO-School bus drivers in this city, members of the United Transportation Union's Local 1741, won an important victory this summer against the takeback schemes of Laidlaw Transit Inc., North America's largest school bus contractor.
Over the summer the corporation proposed 119 takebacks-including a two-tier wage system, wage freeze, destruction of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) provisions, and a one-third reduction in healthcare benefits.
On the eve of the Labor Day break, the takebacks remained on the table. Seventy-two hours later the company's hired gun left negotiations without a single concession in his pocket.
Since the victory, drivers have been showing up to work in tee-shirts reading: "UTU 1741— We beat the two tier!"
The school bus drivers won because of the democratic, rank-and-file character of their union and because they learned the lesson of previous battles in San Francisco: The only way to resist the bosses' flood of takebacks is to surround each union under attack with a wall of solidarity.
Drivers and union officers spoke before over 75 union meetings in San Francisco and received the endorsements of more than 100 union groups, labor councils, and executive boards. An outreach commission was set up to involve community and church groups. This work began a full year before the contract expired.
Drivers initiated a strike committee that had a system of picket captains in place a week before the opening of school. Plans were in motion for a daily strike newspaper, strike kitchen, and an feel good. "
at the end of the march. educational campaign ents.
The spirit of involvement and know!edge that no scabs would be tolerated permitted the membership to remain solidly committed to the program of no concessions.
San Francisco school bus drivers have come away from their victory with a new understanding of the union ideal. We learned that solidarity is the only road to rebuilding the strength of the labor movement.
Scan page 6
OUR REVOLUTIONARY CONTINUITY