By Lauren Anzaldo
Pensacola GMB
Pushed by their boss’ uncompromising stance at the negotiating table, 23 transit workers in Pensacola, Fla., went on strike on Nov. 1. As of this writing, the strike was in its 45th day with some hope for a resolution by the end of the year.
This is the first locally organized strike in Pensacola since the 1970s.
The striking drivers belong to the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1395, and are employees of Pensacola Bay Transport Inc. Pensacola Bay has a county contract to provide transportation to elderly and disabled residents.
The workers were negotiating a new employment contract with Pensacola Bay owner Margie Wilcox when they hit an impasse. Wilcox wanted to double the amount workers pay for health care benefits from about $300 a month for family coverage to about $600 monthly. She also offered them a 10-cent pay increase over three years instead of the $1 yearly raise the workers asked for.
“When she mentioned 10 cents, it was off the chain,” said Mary C. French, a driver for Pensacola Bay, a representative on the ATU 1395 executive board and a member of the union’s negotiating committee. “This woman cannot be serious. This is adding insult to injury. She might as well not even have offered us anything. It was a slap in the face.”
Starting pay for a driver at Pensacola Bay averages $6.50 an hour. Top pay is $8 hourly. Florida minimum wage is $6.15 an hour and will rise to $6.40 in January.
“It’s kind of hard to be a transportation worker. A lot of people don’t fit the bill,” said driver Theresa McDonald, ATU 1395 first vice president for the Pensacola Bay worksite.
Drivers must be certified by the Department of Transportation and must pass a background check. They must also have no more than five points for traffic violations on their license, according to the contract that was in force when the union went into negotiations with Wilcox this year. However, Wilcox revealed during talks that she had struck a deal with her automotive insurance company that would require drivers to have no more than three points on their license.
“She was trying to institute three points, in violation of our contract,” McDonald said. “If it weren’t for that, we might have been able to negotiate, but she was not negotiating in good faith.”
Wilcox wouldn’t compromise, and the 36 union members at Pensacola Bay voted unanimously to go on strike beginning Nov. 1. Twenty-three workers joined the picket line the first day and have not scabbed since. The bosses intimidated the rest, many of whom were junior employees who were threatened with termination if they went on strike, according to McDonald.
Scabs have been keeping Pensacola Bay running for the past month and a half. Several local taxi companies have also offered their drivers as scabs.
Besides picketing outside the Pensacola Bay offices five days a week, the ATU has tried a few other tactics to pressure Wilcox into capitulating to workers’ demands for fair pay, fair treatment and affordable health care. Because Pensacola Bay has a county contract and receives government subsidies, workers have appealed to local elected officials to intervene.
Besides the Pensacola Bay workers, ATU 1395 represents public bus drivers and blue-collar county employees. Escambia County has an agreement with the ATU that no county employees will be paid less than $8 an hour.
“Why wouldn’t you make sub-contractors do the same thing? What? Do you want us on welfare?” asked McDonald.
This line of reasoning may have convinced county administrator George Touart, who on Dec. 12 ordered Pensacola Bay to open its books for a full county audit. ATU 1395 President Mike Lowry, a county bus driver, hopes that the county will charge
Pensacola Bay with unfair labor practices if the audit indicates that the company can afford to pay the workers what they are asking.
Members of the Pensacola General Membership Branch of the I.W.W. have supported the Pensacola Bay workers throughout their strike. Wobblies have regularly joined workers on the picket line and provided food boxes supplied by a Wobbly who works in a grocery store produce department. End of the Line Café, a collectively run restaurant where five Wobblies work, has donated daily pots of coffee to the workers, who start picketing at 5 a.m. in chilly winter weather.
The media has virtually ignored the strike. An attempt by the Pensacola GMB to place a classified ad discouraging scabbing was refused by the local daily newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal. The GMB then brought the same ad to another publication, which ran the ad without question. The text of the ad, which appeared for two weeks in the employment section of the paper, reads: “Attention Cabbies and Drivers! Don’t be a scab! Crossing union picket lines hurts workers. Unite and win. Sponsored by the Pensacola I.W.W.”
On Dec. 3, the Pensacola GMB and End of the Line Café hosted a benefit for the strikers in conjunction with the Traveling Wobbly Art Show. Folk musician Rymodee and poet Mike Racine – both Wobblies – performed at the event, which brought in $300. The Boston GMB also raised $250 for the ATU Strike Fund.
Anyone interested in contributing to the fund for the striking transport workers can contact the Pensacola GMB at iwwpensacola@yahoo.com.
