VOTE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

Deke's Note: Hey beloved Brothers and Sisters, we are coming to a time-honored and revered moment. For over 100 years, ATU757 has represented transit workers in Portland, Oregon. Last week, nominations for Executive Officers were put forward at our local charter meeting. I had it on my calendar, was poised to attend. Then as usual (I don't why but it happens every month... is it the male version of menstruation?!?) I feel poorly the very night I plan to attend. This month it was a vital one... but fearing a viral infection I decided to skip it. Why should I chance infecting my fellow union members? It's all good... I chose to use Leave Hours to afford myself a rare 4-day weekend. Great choice, although I would rather have attended this meeting.

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Fellow Operators, Mechanics/Service Workers, Trainers, Station Agents and all other ATU757 members, we're at the precipice of disaster. EACH of you are vital to our collective future. We've seen major upheaval in the ranks the past few years given COVID and the massive unjust and voluntary retirements. As usual, we have rolled through the worst possible times of humanity's disasters, only to be mistreated by management. Yeah, they called us "heroes" publicly, but behind the scenes they have constantly held us to inhuman standards and decimated the ranks of honored long-time employees. All the while, WHERE IS OUR UNION? Evidently, firmly implanted up management's backside.It goes against every ounce of my soul to denigrate another, but I've been disappointed by our leadership the past few years. And that is all I will say about that.

The past few years have seen us lose versus transit management. While they proclaim huge sign-on bonuses on our bus marquees, they constantly hold us to inhuman wishy-washies and suspend/terminate masses of dedicated employees who dare to make mistakes. We are held to the most intense standards of ANY commercial drivers, with little regard to the thousands of SAFE miles we achieve every day. It's such an insult to my professionalism as a proud union member that I override management's disgustingly-pandering marquee message EVERY DAY. Why would I encourage ANYONE to apply to this job only to be derisively-treated every step of their path in transit? I cannot, in good conscience, allow that message to repeat as I diligently maneuver the constant dangers we face while each moment we operate The Beast. That sign-on bonus takes THREE YEARS to realize. Every second "out there" puts us in situations the average driver is extremely-unable to comprehend, let alone react to.

It takes years to find a groove as a bus operator, let alone as a Rail Op. Our jobs are similar yet horribly divergent. BOTH require an Operator's full concentration. Even so, disasters happen. Even the most experienced Operator of Bus or Rail can tell you "shit happens so fast you cannot predict the NOW."

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Since the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus Decision a few years ago giving transit workers the right to "opt out" of union dues, our numbers have been shrinking in depressing amounts. Folks, Union Workers built this country's infrastructure through the last century. Unions afforded middle-class workers protections never before realized. They gave your parents the ability to own a home, to send their kids to college and retire with a comfortable pension. Today, our decimating numbers continue to move people, freight and our country's infrastructure FORWARD while BIG MONEY is the only benefactor of our labors. Meanwhile, our retirement dreams have evaporated as those major corporations lobbied government effectively enough to free themselves of the tax burden President Eisenhower's administration enacted.

Somehow, BIG MONEY convinced many to eschew the rights afforded them through the blood of our forebears. History has a habit of repeating itself if forgotten. As we move toward another presidential election, HALF of you are convinced that BIG MONEY will take care of you while the rest scream WAKE THE FUCK UP! They have NEVER had your back and are not about to change their tune no matter what you hum. A vote for them is a sure bet your retirement could likely be in a tent under Burnside Bridge or worse.

It's always the classic bait and switch routine, brothers and sisters. A student of American history my entire life, I KNOW what's going on. Ya gotta go with the regime which champions OUR efforts, versus that which the RICHEST begs you to vote for. 

So we sit as our local union elections loom. We've seen our rights eroded as clearly as that unpredictable traffic signal goes yellow-red. Fail to slam on our brakes and risk putting an elderly passenger on the floor could cost you your job, but your instincts require you roll through it safely with your foot covering the brake. Then you risk being reported by some ignorant or (equally-so management jerk) for running a red light. Either way we're screwed because COMMON SENSE has given way to ridiculousness. Our job has become intensely more difficult because we're constantly over-managed by incompetents and their equally-inept superiors.

We must VOTE for people to run ATU757 who understand our daily challenges, competently fight  management's incompetency, and most importantly understand how a union should work for US.. Management's refusal to accept our fallible humanity has led to its own shortage of workers. They cull the ranks via unreasonable expectations of perfection and beg the public to hide its own incompetence by controlling the media's image of our transit operations.

I cannot in good conscience recommend working for this agency given its disrespectful treatment of those who make management's jobs possible. No way. Don't expect a monetary bribe to to entice me encouraging any poor soul applying for a job here. Management will constantly badger Operations employees in degrees which far outweigh the benefits. I've been here almost 12 years now. I KNOW bullshit long before I smell it.

It behooves EACH of you newbies to WAKE UP! This is NOT THE JOB ADVERTISED. JOIN ATU757, pay your dues and VOTE in the upcoming election. Read what each has to say. Your FUTURE depends upon it. If you're one of those who decided to refuse paying Union Dues, you're fucking your fellow Operators and every other member while also benefiting from the protections afforded you over 100 years of actual BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS. You're slacking, enjoying the same benefits WE dues-paying members pay for.

Pay attention, my dear brothers and sisters. And please, just VOTE. The last election saw a dismal 20% turnout, which has unfortunately resulted in a dramatic lack of participation in our common interests. If you cannot show up to champion your own best interests, why are you even here? 

STOP being complacent. Pay attention to what's going on now that you're a union-protected employee. Driver? Shagger? Mechanic? Trainer? Station Agent? WE are who moves transit, NOT management. YOU are guaranteed union-earned benefits. YOU have the power to dictate OUR future. Get off your ass and get involved. Most of all, VOTE in this vital Executive Board Election this next month!

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I will provide a forum here for each of the candidates for President and Vice President (Secretary/Treasurer Mary Longoria is running unopposed) to answer identical questions. READ these posts. I don't offer this as a an opportunity to record "clicks" on my blog, but to give you a chance to read what each office-seeker has to say to you. Otherwise, how are you to know WHO you're voting for? I've done this for the past three union elections. Each candidate will be asked the same questions and afforded the opportunity to express their views. It's my service to YOU, my beloved union fellows, so that you have the chance to evaluate each candidate who chooses to participate, without outside interference. All I ask is that you read their responses to my carefully-crafted questions, then make up your own mind as to who you choose to vote for. Then, just simply VOTE.

Make your singularly-collective voice heard. Consider each candidate's responses. Each of them has offered themselves to serve YOU through their candidacy. Their devotion is in itself admirable. It behooves you to consider their positions and decide who you believe will best lead US forward through the turbulent years ahead.

We have worked so hard just to get to this point. Once heralded as heroes, we're treated as mere corporate liabilities. Management turned its back on US once the pandemic ended. Predictably. We're only valuable when our community needs us most. Afterward, management casts us aside as if we're a caste society. It is therefore incumbent upon US to dedicate ourselves toward one another rather than meekly uttering a Mark Twain-inspired plea for the crumbs falling downward through our job-acquired arthritic fingers.

I'm praying for a 100% turnout this election season, but I'll be happy if eight out of 10 of you care enough to VOTE for our collective future. I will approach each of you I see this month to encourage you to participate in YOUR future, your right to have a SAY in what happens to your fellow brothers and sisters ever forward. It's my DUTY to you. Not just as this blogger, but as your ATU757 brother. I also ask you to join us once again for #BANDTOGETHER2024 in September. 

Please join my plea to become involved in a journey we ALL roll along. Don't miss the opportunity, or you'll likely miss the bus to Security Avenue. You know how it goes: we don't wait for those who run; we run for those who wait.

Thank you, and roll safe brothers and sisters.

Respectfully,

Deke N. Blue

Your Champion