IWW Starbucks Workers Union: Statement of Solidarity with Striking Transit Workers
Submitted on Thu, 12/22/2005 - 2:33pm
From starbucksunion.org:
As a recipient of support from TWU Local 100 members on our picket lines, it is with great honor that we express our total solidarity with striking transit workers in New York City. We know you are striking not only for your families but also for every working New Yorker.
Corporations, public or private, are concerned with two things: money and power. Since the MTA's last-minute bargaining demand would have saved less money than two day's worth of overtime for cops to patrol struck stations, it follows that power was the element at issue. The two-tier pension scheme the MTA tried to impose had the singular intent of weakening the union. By dividing senior workers from newer workers, two-tier schemes undermine solidarity within a union. They also provide an incentive for the bosses to concoct pretexts to get rid of more senior workers to save money. The supermarket bosses imposed such a two-tier contract on 70,000 striking and locked out grocery workers in 2004. But in 2005, TWU Local 100 and affiliated unions said, "No."
Despite all the mainstream New York newspapers shamefully editorializing against you, transit workers remain defiant and militant on the street. IWW members are on the streets with you and will be with you until victory. Who are these pundits and think-tank hacks condemning you? Have they ever worked underground with blaring noise all day and night? Have they ever gotten their hands dirty on the job? Have they ever been given arbitrary and humiliating write-ups from abusive managers?
Everywhere in this country unions are on the retreat but you have reminded us that the best posture is an offensive one, wicked laws be damned. The Taylor Law, by purporting to deny workers the ability to control their own labor, amounts to indentured servitude and you rightly ignored it. Let the Government attempt to collect those fines and we'll be one step closer to the General Strike that should be taking place at this very moment. Without our hard work, this city would grind to a halt over night. Stay strong sisters and brothers: you are showing the world that laboring people don't give up our right to liberty when we go to work.
Rosa Parks also broke a wicked law. Because of her courage we live in a more decent society and no one doubts that her action was dignified and just. Thank you Rosa Parks. And thank you members of TWU Local 100 for taking a courageous and noble stand that will benefit us all.