My Passionate Rally Speech

Deke's Note: An orator I am not; a writer, I hope. Still, my style is a bit rambling for the art of speech. With sureness of heart and pure motives, I volunteered to "speechify" at our Amalgamated Transit Union 757 rally last night in downtown Portland. When my turn came, I was asked to keep my remarks to five minutes. Ha! Have you EVER known me to be so brief? My full text would have likely taken seven or eight to read. Therefore, I had to "edit on the fly", which resulted in my initially failing to acknowledge my rail brothers and sisters. This was easily rectified, but I felt mortified on their behalf and hope they don't hold it against me.

It was great to see well over 100 people in attendance. Operators, retirees, and passengers alike roared in outrage as several speakers lambasted management's recklessness during our contract talks. Thanks to our ATU 757 Leadership Team for their hard work. Hopefully, the management team gets the message and stops trying to bully us. Anyway, here is the full text version of what I wrote for the event.

My fellow brothers and sisters of the working class, we’re ALL tired. We are downtrodden. There is much work to be done. But hey, that’s what we know, right? WORK. A four-letter word, ending in “k”.

We earn a paycheck. Who gets paid? The landlord, the power company, the grocery store, the childcare, and everyone else we must pay.

This past December, TriMet informed US that since its contract with ATU 757 expired, it was passing the rise in insurance premiums on to us. My premium TRIPLED. So much for that raise a few years ago. Gone! Poof! We hope to regain some benefits, and at least get another raise. But what’s to stop them from doing this again in a few years?

We do the hard work of transit, each of us providing 150,000+ passenger rides every year. I also honor the years of service and millions of rides provided by our retirees, who also hope for a stronger contract.

WE COULD STILL DO OUR JOBS WITHOUT MANAGEMENT, BUT THEY CAN’T DO THEIRS WITHOUT US!

We are exposed to every bug, every virus, every bacterium that slithers through our doors. We are disciplined if our recovery takes too long. How dare we nurse ourselves back to health instead of taking that operator’s seat and infecting our passengers with whatever bug has invaded our body?

We are slapped, punched, sexually violated. Spit upon, just like our brother Justin recently. Cops told him later the guy had a staph infection! Staph. Spit right into his face. Where is Justin’s “justice” while our management is surely looking for something, anything, which might suggest he “brought his attack upon himself”? It has happened many a time, but YOU never hear about it. Well damnit, it’s time you did!

WE ARE GATHERED TODAY BECAUSE TRANSIT MANAGEMENT HAS BECOME TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES.

WE stand with our Maintenance brothers and sisters, as well as our fellow Operators, Road Supervisors, Station Agents, Trainers and Fare Inspectors. We have suffered several years of management’s mismanagement of transit in Portland, especially when it comes to those who MAKE THE WHEELS ROLL.

Over the past 50 years, we have become mice in the struggle for “freedom”. You and me, the WORKING people, have become downtrodden. Down upon the sidewalk where spit is strewn along with the garbage and the piss, lie the dreams of the working class. Our collective futures, passed down to us by hard-working parents, are in peril.

Compared to our parents’ generations, we have allowed ourselves to be infected by collective APATHY. Your TRANSIT WORKERS are as important as those who check you out in the grocery store; their jobs are in jeopardy every time you avoid the long line of a HUMAN employee to use the “self-checkout”.

Today, unions are battered. Some even call us the enemy of the people. However, that is a myth perpetuated by the powers under which we all struggle.

THE 40-HOUR WEEK, PAID SICK LEAVE, VACATION TIME, REPRESENTATION… JUST A FEW VICTORIES UNIONS HAVE WON FOR WORKING PEOPLE.

We gather here tonight to denounce TriMet’s ridiculous contract takeaways. THEY advocate total elimination of an honorable and decades-old Maintenance Apprenticeship Program. It gives entry-level workers a hopeful future: that they may rise up the ladder of hard work and dedication to become fully trained mechanics. Instead of accruing decades of student loan debt, this program offers them a living wage while they WORK toward a better future and secure retirement. These are the people that bus and rail operators depend upon to keep our vehicles moving, which propel you to your desired locations.

You may not notice their presence. They are quick, efficient and noble in their work. No matter what elements Mother Nature throws at them, our brave and determined Maintenance brothers and sisters maintain over 700 buses and rail vehicles which take you to every compass-point in the Portland Metropolitan area every day of each year.

Thank you for being here, Portland. We ask you support our pleas for fairness in ATU 757’s current negotiations.

CALL TRIMET AND DEMAND IT STOP FIGHTING AGAINST THOSE WHO GIVE YOU A RIDE EVERY DAY!

WE DESERVE FAIR WAGE INCREASES WHICH KEEP PACE PORTLAND’S HIGH STANDARD OF LIVING!

A Japanese proverb implores us to: “Fall down seven times, and stand up eight.”

Please help us RISE!

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU, ARE YOU HERE FOR US?

Thank you, Portland.

ATU 757 FOREVER!