Joe Speaks UP! Stand and Fight!

It's time we look like this guy...

Once more, it's been a rough year for Portland transit employees. We've had 62 incidents of violence against operators and supervisors. Still, crickets from our transit agency and the local media. Of course, when something bad happens, the media pounces on the words spewing from our management which do nothing to support its "team members."

You're thinking now as you finished the first paragraph, "Oh boy, here Deke goes again." Not this time, folks. Oh yeah, I will be touching on this subject soon in graphic and passionate detail. For now though, it's one of my brothers blasting forth from this online soapbox. I received an anonymous email from Joe Bro, and it's worth the read. Beware though, Joe's understandably angry. We all should be.
 

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Dear Deke,

Here we are again. Another assault. This one resulting in broken bones and a concussion. This time, our member didn’t even have a chance to fight back. Yet, once again, guilty until proven innocent.

We all know from past experience with the company, you will never be innocent. Even having multiple witnesses supporting our members' stories, TriMet still searches for a reason to hang them.  Anything. No matter how small it is. No matter the relevance of it, they will use it to our detriment.

If safety is the core value of the company, then I say the core is rotten. The only "safety" TriMet cares about is safeguarding its image. Are they concerned with rider safety? No. They are most certainly not concerned for ours. For example, look at the aftermath of the Hollywood murders. Ridership is down. Feeling safe while riding our system has all but disappeared.

TriMet claims to have made changes but, where are those changes? They continually put our supervisors in harm's way by sending them alone to known violent and potentially-violent situations, while refusing to send police until our supervisor makes contact claiming that the police won’t come without a detailed description. Meanwhile, our supervisor gets assaulted and the company blames them for it even though they put them in that volatile situation alone and without help.

Which brings me to another point. In all cases, but this one even more so, the police usually do nothing. They make it appear that they are, but they aren’t.  This recent event though shows how callous and uncaring PPD and TPD are. I have been told by two witnesses that when PPD showed up, they refused to pursue the guy until TPD arrived. The perp was not far away and a witness even pointed out to the officers where he was. Then, when TPD showed up, they also refused to pursue.  This after a senselessly-brutal attack not only on our member, but on a passenger as well. The ineptitude showed by PPD and TPD that day was sickening. It only goes to show that not only does the company not care about us, the Police care even less.
 But, why would they? We don’t even care ourselves. Oh sure, we make noise and decry every time something happens but, it’s all done at a keyboard behind a screen. I am also guilty of it at times.After a certain event, which I would identify but that would let any manager who might happen to read this know exactly who I am, I was incredibly angry and fell into a deep and long depression. I felt like a failure. That I let all of you down. So, I retreated behind the keyboard and wallowed. Until I woke up, looked in a mirror and realized I had become part of the problem. I then resolved to be part of the solution.

Everyone wonders where our leadership is, and they are right to wonder. There seems to be a black hole there. But they are not the only ones at fault. We all are. We have no cohesion, no sense of Sister/Brotherhood. There are the apathetic people who don’t vote. There are members ratting out others to management instead of going to a Union Rep first. Then there are keyboard warriors. It’s not enough to just rant on social media. It does nothing. Helps nothing. Soap boxing makes you loud and seen, but if that’s all you’re doing, then the problem doesn’t get fixed. The infighting needs to stop, as does the back stabbing. We need to stop talking as if we are separate groups. The white shirt, blue shirt, and coveralls tags need to go. The selfishness needs to be replaced with solidarity. We are all part of the same union. The same Sister/Brotherhood. We are supposed to be protecting one another, coming together when one of us gets hurt. We complain and complain yet no one stands up long enough to actually rally the troops. And the ones who try, really try, are ignored or dismissed.

Well I say enough! Enough of the pettiness. Enough of the apathy. It must end. Stand up! Be a beacon of change, not complaints. Step forward and help. Hundreds of you should inundate the union emails asking to be stewards. Send a message to the company and the leadership: No longer will we be ignored. 

...instead of this one.

Or don’t. You don’t have to be a steward. You can do other things. Show up to TriMet Board meetings. Get yourself on the public speaker list. Slam the board with the truth even if you think they don’t care. If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem. If you don’t want to have any part of it and you only want to think of yourself then the Supreme Court's Janus Decision has given you an out. Leave the union. Turn your back on the members and leave any social media group you’re a member of that’s for the union. You want out? Then get all the way out.

You pissed off at me yet? Good. I welcome it. This local has a cancer, made up of selfishness and apathy. Are you going to keep feeding it or are you going to start cutting it out?

In solidarity,
Your ATU 757 Brother,
Joe