Bay Area Rapid Transit workers settle strike

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SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2013 11 OAKLAND, Calif.—Workers of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system went back to work Oct. 22, as the second work strike in one year came to an end following an agreement on a tentative contract between negotiators. At press time the contract has yet to be ratified by the rank-and-file. The train operators and station agents are mem­ bers of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1555, while other workers belong to the Service Employees In­ ternational Union (SEIU).

BART workers, who shut down the fifth busiest mass transit rail in the U.S. for four days in order to defend their quality of life, proved they were strong enough to weather the storm of slander and hate directed at them by politi­ cians and the corporate media.

While full details of the contract are unavailable at press time, it appears that union negotiators made concessions, including an increase in employee pension contributions from zero under the old contract to 4% (in 2017). Unions in June had initially offered to contribute 0.5% to pensions, while management had asked for 6%. This will significant­ ly offset the wage increase that workers were given. The tentative contract would give workers a 3.85% raise each year through 2017, for a total of 15.38% total raise over four years. Initial proposals from management includ­ ed keeping wages nearly flat, but the offer was up to 12% in mid-October; while initial union proposals included a 29% wage increase, according to reports. The tentative agree­ ment includes new rules that make it harder for workers to earn larger overtime checks as well.

Health-care costs would increase for BART workers from $92 per month today to about $130 per month, a larger flat rate that was not the 9.5% percentage cost that management proposed shortly before the second strike. BART workers’ family members are still covered at no additional charge. Interestingly, it was reported that BART management and the unions had already come to an agreement on econom­ ic, health-care, and pension issues before going on strike again on Oct. 18, and the unions had even offered to send the remaining issue—work rules—to arbitration. Yet man­ agement refused, thus forcing part two of the labor strike. Some have taken this to mean that management thought it had more to gain by the workers’ going on strike a second time, perhaps believing that public opinion was so solidly in their favor that it could obtain even more concessions. It is not known what management had up their sleeves, but when two workers inspecting a track were killed by a train operated by a trainee, on Oct. 19, it cast suspicions that management was preparing to replace BART workers instead of seriously negotiating to end the strike. When the workers first went on strike on July 1, before Gov. Jerry Brown ended it with a 60-day cooling-off peri­ od, workers’ complaints of unsafe working conditions had been lost amid the media hysteria about “greedy” BART workers. It was only after the two workers were killed that worker safety once again made it into the news. Management immediately increased safety standards; BART trains travel at speeds up to 70 miles per hour, but management will now begin restricting their speed to 27 mph through job sites. But why did workers have to die for these standards to be implemented?

When track inspector James Strickland was killed along the same set of tracks in 2008, BART officials promised to look into available digital technology that would alert workers when trains approach; but they claimed to have found nothing suitable. In the meantime, BART policy for workers’ safety doesn’t include warnings that trains are coming; instead, it amounts to one worker focusing on the track while another watches their back for trains (so they (continued from page 10: “Insurgents Take Over Apwu”)

some of its large dollar holdings while opening the first debates that question whether the dollar should remain the world’s reserve currency, as per the Bretton Woods agreements that so es­ tablished the dollar in 1944.

The concept is simple enough: What would happen if the U.S. government ordered its money printers to print $1.3 trillion in cash and ship it to China, marked, “paid in full.” Or suppose the U.S. did the same with regard to its en­ tire debt of $16.8 trillion, soon to be­ come $17.8 trillion!

In effect, the U.S. would be exchanging a large box of paper for real commodi­ ties that it had purchased around the world. Every nation that today loans money to the U.S. does so on the basis that, as the world’s leading economy, it will pay its debts in full and with inter­ est, since the dollar, albeit declining, is still the most reliable currency on earth today.

The growing divergence between a U.S. economy on the decline and the value of its credit does frighten the most informed layers of the capitalist elite. Yet their only solution, as with their rivals the world over, is to resolve their inherent crises at the expense of working people while printing seem­ ingly endless dollars or bonds, to the tune of $89 billion per month in the U.S., the so-called QE or Quantitative Easing that began in 2008 wherein the government purchased near-worthless bank mortgages at face value.

U.S. capitalism’s global dominance is rapidly coming to an end. The “full faith and credit” in its dollar and economy is today undermined not only by the mere thought that it might default in the context of the present congressio­ can see an approaching train 15 seconds away). This is the best policy according to management because with a digi­ tal warning system “workers become overly dependent on the devices.”

Basic safety issues like bullet-proof glass in stations, warnings that trains are approaching at 70 mph, and staff­ ing two station agents early in the morning and late at night were rarely discussed in mainstream news stories; rather, the workers’ wages were constantly evaluated and inspect­ ed—apparently for evidence that they were far too privi­ leged to have any complaint whatsoever.

The class positions of corporate profiteers, politicians, newspapers, and the media in general are rarely as apparent as during a work strike by organized labor. The responses in this instance were overwhelmingly against the strike, but sometimes painted in the liberal trappings of pity for the inconvenience that the strike caused to so many people. A Democratic city councilman and candidate for state assembly from Orinda, Calif., Steve Glazer, called for a prohibition of transit strikes because strikes “cripple our economy, hurt workers getting to their jobs, limit access to schools and health care, and damage our environment.” Calif. State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat, said he was looking into legislation to prevent future strikes. Richard White, CEO of UserVoice, said, “Get ‘em back to work, pay them whatever they want, and then figure out how to automate their jobs so this doesn’t happen again.” Politicians and newspapers quibbled about banning strikes; CEOs and people writing blogs explored ways to automate train operation and eliminate jobs (as if the unions were composed entirely of train operators), but many workers remained grounded in the fact that behind all the hype they weren’t asking for much, since wages have been frozen since 2009. “BART is running a surplus,” train operator Eddie Turner said. “This system works and we are the people who make it work.” Kay Wilson, a BART worker on the picket line, said, “I make no apologies for wanting to go to work, do my job well, and get paid for that.”

In today’s worldwide climate of austerity, capitalism is attempting to set back public-sector workers and their unions to an unprecedented degree. This will undoubtedly force many more strikes from workers struggling to main­ Inal wrangle over the debt ceiling, but in its essential stability itself.

The speculative real estate frenzy leading to the present recession/de­ pression, which shook world markets beginning in 2008, was qualitatively more a reflection of capitalism’s gen­ eral decline rather than of the stupidity or corruption of greedy bankers. A sick system reached the point where aver­ age profits were significantly declining in the real world of manufacturing.

The 2008 bankruptcy of General Mo­ tors, once the world’s largest corpora­ tion, is a prime case in point. Why in­ vest in yet another new auto plant that would become obsolete in a matter of months? It’s better to invest, America’s ruling rich calculated, in a stock mar­ ket or related speculative instruments, where government money could be had at close to zero interest rates and speculative insurance companies like AIG guarantee against any losses! tain their standard of living. All working people should know which side they stand on, and show their solidarity, according to the principle of “an injury to one is an injury to all!” n ... Fukushima (continued from page 12: “Fukushima radiation leaks are poisoning soil and oceans”) ity that Fukushima represents is being unnecessar­ ily prolonged because those profiting from nuclear power do not want to admit how truly daunting and complex the problems are in this unprecedent­ ed situation or to come clean about what it will take to solve them.

Contrary to Prime Minister Abe’s proclamation before the International Olympic Committee, the situation is not under control. Far from it, and this malignity of capitalism must end now.The best scientific and engineering minds on the planet should be devoted to dealing with the problems of decommissioning and cleaning up the mess at Fukushima.

Because Northern Japan has been rendered un­ inhabitable, the entire population should be hu­ manely relocated. The populace and Fukushima workers should compensated and given the best remedial medical care available. Thorough moni­ toring of all food stuffs should be conducted by governments—with nothing unsafe being allowed in the markets.

All nuclear reactors should be nationalized in every country and taken out of the hands of the private utilities to begin the process of decom­ missioning them immediately under the control of democratically-elected committees of workers and local residents. Long-term permanent drywaste storage facilities should be found that are ecologically and geologically sound and are so­ cially acceptable. n That house of cards came tumbling down; capitalism’s leaders then inten­ sified their shift, considering that the only way out of the crisis was on the backs of working people. Needless to say, the stock market has now even ex­ ceeded its highs of five years ago—but again, based on unprecedented specu­ lation as opposed to investment in real production. Wherever capitalism does invest, aside from speculation, is more often than not in low-wage, non-union, service sector, part-time industries, which give zero benefits to workers. Whether this is done in the U.S. or in a poor and oppressed nation where workers can be had at a fraction of the cost is a matter of indifference to those who make the decisions.

The present budget, debt-ceiling, default, ObamaCare hullabaloo repre­ sents “much ado about nothing” except how best to inflict yet another blow against us. n

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SOCIALIST ACTION