https://iclfi.org/pubs/wv/1182/transit
For far too long, the many thousands-strong workforce of New York City’s sprawling subway and bus system has not been able to vote for any union candidates looking to mobilize workers to truly fight for their interests. That has changed in the upcoming Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 elections for Executive Board with the campaign of two militants from the “Transit Workers for a Fighting Union.”
NYC’s vast transit system runs 24/7/365. Everyone knows that it is the beating heart and circulatory system of the metropolis. Nonetheless, the capitalist rulers shamelessly let it decay to the point where it is unbearable and dangerous for the riders and transit workers alike. The huge multiracial transit workforce toils with low pay for long hours in extremely unsafe conditions. It is not widely known that transit workers regularly deal with subway fatalities that occur every week on average nor that transit workers’ lives are shortened by industrial hazards that should be relics of the past. Yet they have enormous potential social power (as shown by solid strikes in 1966, 1980 and 2005), which a class-struggle union leadership could organize and unleash.
The Transit Workers for a Fighting Union candidates are running on a program to do just that. We reprint their platform below.
Vote for Our Candidates for Executive Board!
We are running for Executive Board in two divisions—RTO [train operators] and TA Surface Maintenance [bus maintenance]—on a program to fight back against the MTA’s drive to make us pay for their latest budget crisis. This country’s rulers have billions to line their own pockets and for imperialist slaughters abroad, but plead poverty as New York City’s transit system rots. Working people need to fight back! Here’s our program to transform our union into one that fights against the bosses and for all transit workers:
-
“We Move New York!” We should be able to afford to live here! We need raises high enough to win back what we’ve lost to inflation and giveback contracts, plus full cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) against inflation. We shouldn’t have to work tons of overtime and endure long commutes just to make rent!
-
Abolish Tier 6! Everyone to top tier now! The tier system screws newer workers, pits us against each other, and destroys union bargaining power. Equal pay for equal work! Upgrade Tier 6 to Tier 4 now! Fight for a 20/50/non-contributory pension for all!
-
We shouldn’t have to kill ourselves to do our jobs! Injuries and death threaten workers and riders every day. The Safety Dispute Resolution Form still keeps safety in the hands of the bosses, who create dangerous conditions to begin with. Workers should control safety! Any worker should be able to shut down unsafe work and the entire union must back them up!
-
For black liberation! Down with witch hunts against migrants and refugees! The MTA is run like a plantation, with the bosses segregating us by job title, hammering us with discipline and keeping us weak. Racial oppression is used to drive down wages and work conditions for all workers, including white union members. Join us in the fight to end plantation justice!
-
Oppose the Democrats and Republicans! Workers should run the country! Whether it’s Trump or Harris at the helm, working people will lose. The union tops keep telling us to vote for Democrats, but you can’t fight the bosses if you’re in bed with their political parties. In the current national elections, we urge transit workers to vote for the working-class alternative: Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia from the Party for Socialism and Liberation for president and vice president. We need to build a party that aims to put working people in charge from top to bottom!
