All MTA Workers Out Together!

We reprint below a May 16 statement by Transit Workers for a Fighting Union.

May 16—When 3,500 LIRR workers from five unions walked out and shut down the nation’s largest commuter railroad at midnight last night, they not only started a fight for themselves, but also for some 38,000 NYC transit workers whose contract expired at the same time. Likewise, they’re fighting for every working-class New Yorker ground down by dwindling paychecks, spiraling inflation, long workdays, miserable working conditions and capitalist politicians like Governor Kathy Hochul who refuse to grant them any relief. Subway, bus and rail workers keep the MTA’s rotting transit system running 24-7-365, yet increasingly cannot afford to live in the region where they work. Transit Workers for a Fighting Union understands that all MTA transit workers should be united in struggle to defeat our common enemy and win real wage gains with no givebacks. Victory to the strike! Same deadline, same destiny!

Governor Hochul, MTA chief Janno Lieber and their notorious slimeball negotiator Gary Dellaverson provoked the LIRR strike by pushing unreasonable demands and introducing a new healthcare giveback at the eleventh hour. Dellaverson gave away their game, admitting in a press conference that the bosses are hell-bent on making sure that LIRR workers don’t get a real fourth year pay hike and especially that this will not set a pattern for the huge NYC Transit workforce. Spitting on workers who haven’t had a raise in almost three years, he remarked disdainfully that they were just refusing to choose between a red popsicle and a yellow popsicle (!) as though lump sum payments are equal to real wage increases. Moreover, he articulated the bosses’ hatred that LIRR workers can still strike without massive fines because they are under the draconian Railway Labor Act and not New York State’s slave-labor Taylor Law. The TWU and all LIRR unions (BLET, BRS, IAM, IBEW, TCU, SMART, NCFO) should fight together to tear up whatever anti-labor laws are thrown up against us.

So, we are looking at two huge labor struggles—one to win the LIRR strike, another to get a decent contract for TWU Local 100—that are needlessly isolated from one another. Historically, the MTA bosses have consciously pitted the predominantly black and immigrant TWU Local 100 members against the typically more white and native-born LIRR workforce, subjecting the former to lower pay and worse conditions. But neither workforce benefits from maintaining this status quo. We should all be fighting for parity in pay, benefits and protections for all at the highest level. This strike could be won in a couple of hours if all of MTA’s unionized workers went out together in solid strike action. Why the hell is all this power squandered? It is squandered because the union misleaders are completely tied to the interests of the bosses, to the legal mechanisms for controlling unions, to Wall Street’s financial system and to the Democratic and Republican parties. We need a whole new union leadership to oust the sellout bureaucracy and to do what’s necessary to win.

Against MTA threats to crush the LIRR strike, which would also sink the TWU’s struggle for a new contract, we offer the following concrete steps:

• No transit worker in any MTA agency should do any struck work and every effort should be made to honor the picket lines and help win the strike! This means refusing to add shuttles, increase service, or in any way undermine the LIRR strike.
• Defend any worker victimized by management! No reprisals! Go out together and come back together or no one at all!
• For solid wage gains well above inflation and no givebacks in work rules or anything else! Let’s win this one for workers everywhere!
• TWU Local 100 must organize its membership to bolster LIRR picket lines by the thousands and use this momentum to rally our membership for the hard struggle ahead. This includes openly discussing and preparing for possible strike action that can beat back the Taylor Law and win.

TWFU is proud to be part of a united front with other rank-and-file groups and individuals in TWU Local 100 called “Transit Workers for a Just Contract.” TWJC’s slogan “Same Deadline, Same Destiny” exactly captures the current bargaining situation: the MTA is playing hardball against LIRR unions to prevent TWU Local 100 from getting a similar ONE YEAR WAGE HIKE which won’t even protect us against skyrocketing inflation. TWJC has highlighted the need for real wage increases and no givebacks under the slogan: “WE MOVE NEW YORK, BUT WE CAN’T AFFORD TO LIVE HERE!” Our wage proposal is “3x$5” (three annual $5/hour wage increases) to give us a chance of living comfortably on a 40-hour week in the city we serve. To find out more about TWJC, check out our website at tw4jc2026.base44.app/. To find out more about TWFU, look us up on Facebook and check out our website at twfu.org.