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Municipal Transportation Workers Industrial Union 540

All workers engaged in municipal, short distance transportation and telecommunication services.

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IWW statement for March 6 Day of Action

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 3:00pm.

Statement for March 6 International Day of Action in Solidarity with the Workers of Iran

The International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), an international rank-and-file labor union, warmly extends our solidarity with the workers of Iran, on this, the occasion of the March 6th Global Day of Action. Reflecting on the 100+ year history of our own union, we in the IWW recognize that real victories for workers have never come without struggle, hardship, and--all too often--repression. For years now, the Iranian workers have bravely faced down brutal opposition from government forces, right-wing clerics and their supporters, and of course, the bosses themselves. They have paid a terrible price for their efforts to bring about justice in the workplace and in society. We know that workers, organizers and activists have been harassed, threatened, beaten, fined, fired, whipped, jailed and worse, simply for exercising their right to organize.


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Tragedy strikes the CCU

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 08/15/2007 - 4:06am.
It is with profound sadness that I write to tell you all that FW Ryan Boudreau (pictured, right, on the right), a bicycle messenger in the Chicago Couriers Union (IU 540), was killed on the job yesterday.  He was struck by a northbound truck at the intersection of 18th and S. Clark streets at about 3:15 yesterday afternoon.  The newspaper reports that it was ruled an accident by the police.

I don't have too many details yet, but the CCU Secretary wrote to tell me that he and several other CCU members and supporters are planning a general meeting Wednesday evening to plan actions surrounding Ryan's death and will hold a memorial ride.

FW Boudreau was a dedicated member of the IWW and the CCU and fought for an end to NICA and the anti-courier regulations at 135 S Lasalle.
 
We will keep the rest of you posted with information as it develops.


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Chicago Couriers Union takes action downtown, Part 1

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 4:57am.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007 - At 11am, the Chicago Couriers Union (IWW, IU540) rolled up to 135 South LaSalle Street (between Monroe and Adams) with, signs, fliers, and union flags for a spirited 3-hour informational picket against the security policies of the building, which is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle. Last fall, union members had written letters and had over 100 bike messengers sign a petition, in hopes of having the policy changed and to have a messenger center installed, only to be given the run-around by building management.

In this and many other buildings downtown, messengers must endure humiliating and time-consuming security procedures to simply do their jobs: entering through a loading dock, leaving their bags (as if they're criminals), and waiting for a freight elevator (rather than just taking passenger elevators through the lobby), and often taking abuse from security guards. Forcing messengers into this mess can take 15-20 minutes, costs customers money, costs messengers money, results in a loss of productivity across the industry, and is just plain Not Cool with most bikers working downtown, who are paid on commission per delivery.

Two messengers held the picket for its duration, and several fellow messengers, plus a member of the local IWW General Membership Branch, spent time holding signs and handing out fliers to fellow workers, employees in the building, and other passersby. The picket covered the front and back entrances, plus both entrances of the alley leading into the loading dock. Hundreds of fliers were distributed, containing information about the grievance.


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Wobbly Cat!

Submitted by slava on Sat, 08/05/2006 - 10:20pm.

Hey everyone

IWW General Assembly is coming up.  After two days of debating and a rally at the Shattuck Cinema, you can get a little bay area sun and exercise at the WobblyCat!  This is going to be a great IWW themed bike race for local bike messengers and Wobblies coming from around the country.  
 
The way it works is like this.  We will all be meeting at a designated spot in San Francisco, where you will get a manifest listing all the stops you need to make around the city.  (Out of towners won't have to make as many stops as locals, don't worry).  We'll be visiting places like Dashiell Hammett's house (the Pinkertons tried to pay him $5000 to kill


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Quicksilver Messengers submit their demands. It was almost TOO easy.

Submitted by slava on Sat, 07/15/2006 - 6:26pm.

What happens when you have four dues paying wobblies, plus one treasurer of the SF Bike Messenger Association, plus one old wob from the 70’s, and a boss that could care less about the messenger division, all in one shop?  In the case of Quicksilver Messenger in San Francisco—anything you want—and it was very easy.  

We have just gone from being one of the worst messenger companies in the industry, to one of the best (and legal companies don’t count, since they charge their clients an arm and a leg).  Actually, we haven’t gotten the paycheck to prove it yet, but it should be coming shortly.

We wanted our rates to be increased.  We also wanted to change the zone map, because it was just not worth it to go to certain places.  The fact that a delivery to Van Ness and Market gets you the same amount of money as a delivery to California and Divisadero is (I mean—was) completely ridiculous.  And to add insult to injury, we were not even getting the 49% commission rate we thought we were getting because the company would first subtract a booking charge, making our rate more like 35-40%.  That is illegal by the way, but we are going to let bygones be bygones, since from now on, we are going to be getting a straight 49% commission.


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Fresh Air! Speed! Poverty! Servitude!

Submitted by slava on Thu, 07/06/2006 - 9:04pm.

The founders of Chicago's first bike messenger collective think there's gotta be a better way.

Written by Scott Eden; photographs by Jon Randolph.

June 23, 2006
The Chicago Reader

RENE CUDAL WAS the last to quit. The Friday after Labor Day 2005 was the day he’d marked in his calendar, but he procrastinated all morning and afternoon, dreading the moment his boss would put two and two together. Finally the boss went home. Cudal called him that evening and gave him two weeks’ notice.

A bike messenger quitting isn’t so unusual—messengers will tell you they all develop a strategy to extract themselves from the job, which is defined by a high risk of bodily harm, low wages, and few or no benefits. Michael Carey, Cudal’s boss at On Time Courier, was a former messenger himself. But Carey, a big, block-shouldered man with a reputation as both a polished salesman and a hard-line intimidator, didn’t take Cudal’s news well. “What’s happening?” Cudal remembers him saying. “What are you doing? Starting your own messenger company?”


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Bike messengers keep economy rolling

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 04/19/2006 - 10:45pm.
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (LETTER) - Chicago Tribune, March 28, 2006, By Sam Goldman

Chicago -- Upon reading the March 17 Chicago Tribune editorial "There oughta be a law," I was irked by the irresponsibility of this paper's assertion that "immunity from prosecution could be extended to any pedestrian who knocked over a bicycle messenger."

I remind you that bicycle messengers in Chicago play an important role in lubricating the wheels of our economy.

I am a messenger in Chicago, and a delegate in the Chicago Couriers Union, and there are roughly 300 bike messengers in Chicago.

We pick up and deliver thousands of documents, packages, meals, and odds and ends to and from Chicago's corporations, law firms, restaurants, architecture firms, hospitals, municipal building, courts, banks, retail shops and residences.


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New York fines transit union $2.5 million, jails leader

Submitted by intexile on Wed, 04/19/2006 - 12:02pm.

Staff Report - Industrial Worker, May 2006 

A state supreme court judge has ordered New York Transit Workers Union Local 100 to pay the state a $2.5 million fine, revoked the union's right to collect dues from workers' pay checks, and sentenced President Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for refusing a court order to cancel the December mass transit strike. Subway and bus workers have also been docked several days' pay for joining the strike.

Toussaint called off the transit strike on its third day without an agreement; in January union members voted down the concessionary settlement the Metropolitan Transportation Authority offered when workers were back on the job.


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