Workers’ anger has entered the chat

In my department in the New York City Transit system, overtime has slowed down dramatically over the past seven months. Workers are upset. Workers rely on overtime (OT) mainly because our pay doesn't keep up with inflation, or match what Metro North or Long Island Rail Road is getting when we move more people. We end up having to work on our days off and 4-6 hours extra on another day then 1 or 2 overnights. This was standard for us, but since the work stopped coming we could only expect one day of OT. That's if they didn't cancel it all together. 

We recently had overtime that was canceled. This is the conversation that took place in the chat through text message:

Boss: They dont require assistance from us, no overtime.
Johnson: face palm emoji 
Brown: vomit emoji
Johnson: this some 🐂💩!!!!! We've been flim-flammed, bamboozled, led by a stray, run a muck!  
Me: yea, the s***t's f****d up. This is what happens when we don't control our OT. Another department has OT scheduled in their bids. Something to think about…
Diaz: Sounds like that should be said at a union meeting 
Me: sure wanna come?
Diaz: We all free Saturday, let's mob out to the union building
WHO'S WITH ME!!!!!!!!!
Me: Lol sounds good but I don't think anyone's there on sat.

Boss: sends emoji of angry trucks blowing steam.
Me: Shout out to the port workers (fist)
Charlie: I'm not a man of many words, but I guarantee you that if I got back into the Union, I would fight for you. We can't even get good drinking water. Now, we are signing up for fake canvassing.
I've been on the front lines for 30 years plus. We have to speak up and be recognized.
Diaz: another area got round the clock OT, every weekend
Johnson: EVERYONE ELSE IS EATING!
Me: Not only that but it’s affecting our area of work that is badly in need of repairs. Are sections rotting?
Don: it is what it is.
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Private message from Johnson: 
Yo, talk to the other guys and have someone open a new feed exclusively for us track workers. The one we are on has the boss in it. We don't need the office to know what we are doing? They can know how we feel, though. But they don't need to know our plans.
Me: Facts. Thanks for your leadership.

(I made a new chat)
____________

Johnson: OK fellaz this is exclusively a worker feed. No supervision. We can safely and discreetly communicate here.
Diaz: Stop doing so much work in a straight time.
Me: for some of us we just need to do the bare min so that there isn't a derailment.
But I am concerned about the conditions the city is in. I just feel like the bosses don't care about us or the riders that can be in danger due to the conditions. 
Diaz: That's a fact
They feel we can get all the work done in a straight time..
Do an emergency 4 hours OT here and there when they need to. Cut the productivity & they'll have no choice! What's the motivation right now to give them a certain amount of work in a straight time? Besides a pat on the back & signing a fake canvas
Me: The union sucks in the pockets of the bosses so is there anything else we could do?
Charlie: Now that we realize what's going on, let's stop playing ball and get the Union involved. Give something to work with by stopping signing the fake canvases and actually showing up at a union meeting. We are the union, it's up to us to act. Force the union to work on our behalf. We pay dues
Me: next one in 2 weeks
______________

This is small, but the fight is there. Trying to make the connections to show them the unity we should have with the riding public. I also wanted to encourage leadership and see how they felt about the current union playing both sides. The struggle for workers’ power  continues! Read about what happens in the union meeting in the next issue of CHALLENGE.
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Anti-fascist organizing in Bushwick

Dear CHALLENGE  readers. World War 3 is waiting in the wings in the Middle East. U.S. elections are fast approaching. Whether Trump wins (which he might) or Harris, Black and brown immigrants are at the front of the fascist line-up as scapegoats/targets. The fascist anti-immigrant movement has been and is being mobilized. Are we and our friends in the Progressive Labor Party aware, courageous and prepared? In the Bushwick community in Brooklyn PLP is taking small steps. We have distributed 500 PLP leaflets titled “From Springfield to Palestine.” We displayed two pro-immigrant/anti racist posters in Spanish and English in the street. We taped the posters to the wall in the immigrant community group where we’re members. We’re getting signatures from members at the organization to send in solidarity to Haitian immigrants in Springfield. We’re reaching out to friends in other immigrant organizations to display the posters. And finally we’re in the midst of planning to lead a forum at our organization to build multi-racial, international unity and working class fightback in this period. As we proceed we plan to deepen PLPer’s ties to old friends and make new friends. It is crucial to build and strengthen the revolutionary communist PLP!
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Racist mask bans hurt workers

I was very pleased to see the article on Mask Bans. As the author states, opposing mask bans connects many different  issues together. Mask bans repress dissension and increase racism since cops are more likely to stop Black and Latin people, a new kind of ‘stop and frisk.’  As stated, bans also hurt people with health conditions and those who want to prevent them. Masking is an effective barrier to the transmission of Covid, flu, and other airborne infections. They are even more important now as the government withdraws its funding of vaccines and medications for the covid. That’s a death sentence for many, especially low income, Black, Latin, and older people.

Covid protection is a political issue. Our anti-war, antiracist, and revolutionary organizations must fight for life-saving solutions and lead by example to require safe behaviors at our gatherings and within our schools, workplaces, and conferences. We can’t afford to lose any comrades.
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