NEW YORK – Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 is set to aid the MTA’s racist fare-beating campaign targeting Black and Latin youth in a tentative contract agreement with the agency that started last month. Both “parties agree to meet and confer to work collaboratively,” in assisting the MTA’s fascist crackdown, according to the agreement’s memorandum.
What does this entail? The supposedly “broke” MTA is spending $249 million on 500 new kkkops to terrorize the working class. That’s a quarter of a billion dollars that could go towards major service improvements. Instead, workers will deal with continually crumbling infrastructure, breakdowns, and delayed trains (On top of these sanctioned killers in blue).
But that’s capitalism for you! Forcing workers to choose between paying higher fares or rising food and housing costs.
Both transit workers and the ridership they serve need to recognize these attacks and come together to fight for a communist world. Only then, will all workers get the living standards they deserve.
Union lies
The contract agreement–following the previous one expiring in May–is a slap in the face  of transit workers. Local 100 leaders are claiming multiple victories, such as“inflation beating wage increases,” no increases in healthcare contributions, and protection of overtime after eight hours per day. The reality, for starters, is that in New York City, these “increases” still won’t cover the average two-parent, two-child family household in the city, which needs a combined income of $124,129 annually just to live comfortably (Patch, 3/22/18).And those living costs are guaranteed to go up.
Workers give more for healthcare, less overtime
In a press release about the agreement, the MTA bragged about how much it will save off of workers’ backs. The union is saying it defeated the MTA bosses’ demands for increased healthcare contributions. Yet, they buried the fact that our emergency room co-pay will rise to $100 in an effort to “encourage greater use of primary and urgent care providers.”
The new contract would also alter our prescription drug coverage, costing workers $20 for brand name drugs and $40 for non-prescribed medicine. This would force more use of generic drugs. Transit bosses cheered the “$27 million in savings” these cuts will bring.
The agreement calls for a one-and-a-half day increase in “employee availability,” which is the number of days an employee is available and reporting for work. This includes as of yet unspecified “productivity increases”–all code words for exploiting our labor more efficiently. The MTA boasts this “commitment” will save them $17 million. Highlighted right after this information is a discussion of “recognition of overtime equalization,” with plans to enforce existing contract agreements to reduce overtime availability.
Third party cleaners
With subway stations becoming filthier, the union didn’t bother fighting for the 66 cleaner spots the MTA eliminated two years ago.
This is racist to the core, as most of those workers are Black and Latin and already earn far less than other transit workers. Instead, the agreement calls for outsourcing a one time, deep cleaning of 180 stations to a third party contractor. They wouldn’t even be cleaning half the stations in the entire system!
Attacks on bus operators
On a somewhat similar note, the agreement negotiates a joint labor management committee with the Department of Buses, which, among other things, calls for examining the use and deployment of autonomous vehicles.
Considering the MTA laid off over 300 bus operators in 2010, this is a covert effort by them to further undercut the position, leaving more workers jobless.
Sexism is also rampant within the union, as only now the contract proposal includes a committee to find stand aside jobs for pregnant workers—something that should’ve become a reality years ago! This just shows how little Local 100 head Tony Utano and his cronies care about women workers.
Bosses’ propaganda divides workers on contract
Already, the bosses’ media is painting this as a drain on taxpayers. The New York Post-a known enemy of MTA workers-is on the attack, claiming the contract’s pay increases will cost $310 million more by 2022, despite the fact that our salaries have nothing to do with the MTA’s rising deficits. This is another way the ruling class pits other workers against those who work in transit—and another reason both groups need to fight back in tandem.
Workers need communism for better working conditions
With union misleaders pressuring workers to vote “yes!” and workers divided by MTA bosses, workers may come to vote “yes.” Racist Utano has no problems giving his mostly Black and Latin members givebacks disguised as progress, thinking they don’t understand otherwise.
This proves that only communism can quench workers’ thirst for a world without profit driven exploitation, and sexist, racist borders. Comrades may be spread thin to win this fight but it will take time and building relationships to organize workers to demand what we’re worth, and not accept the bosses’ crumbs. The fight continues.