My Employer is Abusive

Hey Boss, why you trying to kill me? All of us were “Heroes” during Covid-19 according to your signs. We worked through it. You hid from it. We deserve better than being afraid to take care of ourselves when health issues confront us.

Your collective attitude towards us during, and after that putrid “Hero” propaganda campaign, was disgusting. Discipline turned abusive. We were suspended for “mask behavior” even though many of us had already been wearing them before the mandate. 

Now it’s still Covid. We’re still getting injured by repetitive motion and poor ergonomics. We’re still working in filthy environments, exposed to everything that slithers onto our rolling office. Yet a few years past the worst of the pandemic, you try rushing a union busting four-year contract at us negotiated by an outgoing bargaining team. In it, you dare mention “time loss” provisions are meant to prevent “abuse” on our part.

How dare you?

The only abuse is coming from management. It routinely shows no respect or loyalty towards the people who make the wheels roll. WE, who cannot work (hide) from home: Bus and Rail Operators, Maintenance, Supervisors, Station Agents, Trainers, Fare Inspectors, Security, Customer Service Teams and other ATU757 Operations staff.

Management has no discernible oversight. Instead of doing everything possible to retain and protect its workforce, it acts as if we should be beholden to it. Without ALL OF US, there’s no THEM. 

Yet we are a disorganized group of people who fail to understand the basic principles of union precedent. They $ee fla$hy dollar$ instead of the respect we earned over the past decade of broken promises and increasing abuse. 

NEVER TAKE THE FIRST OFFER! Especially after bending over so far for too long. “Heroes” deserve extra consideration. 

NEVER have I worked for an entity that disciplines dedicated workers who use accrued leave to care for themselves or their family. That’s abuse, not our use of earned time.

NEVER have I labored for someone who fails to protect or support its frontline workers from a wildly uninformed and inaccurate, often absurdly-abusive public. We need constant control on our vehicles, whether it’s operating or insisting on appropriate passenger behavior. Instead we are Monday Morning Quarterbacked by people who may have never operated a transit vehicle.

Weak, corporate statements about “increasing budgets for safety” do nothing in the face of immediate dangers. When we’re alone in the seat we need to know the higher ups have our backs, rather than shoving designer boots up our backsides. Using “customer servicey” voices doesn’t get the message across in tense situations.

We deserve better than our GM, whose raise for one year (15%) is double digits higher than ours. He raised fare (who gets berated for that?) while cutting service (ditto). He routinely ignores union employees whob want to have an open dialogue with him. I thank and respect him for serving our country in uniform. In this profession however, he doesn’t inspire respect from those who wear transit uniforms. We constantly “go the extra mile” while he plays corporate mind games.

So my fellow union members and leaders, I urge a resounding NO vote on this contract. It’s shameful and unacceptable. It’s time to renegotiate. Stop this incessant whining about how “we’ll lose another arbitration.” Our well being is in the public’s best interest, not TM’s psychotic stranglehold on us, public media and perception.

Have we lost the collective will to STAND? I haven’t. Are we so short-sightedly selfish we can’t argue the dues we’ve paid together have earned us much more than we’ve received? It’s time to erase this long-standing deficit.

We need a two-year contract which reins in destructive employment practices and encourages retention, while raising us up to the rewards inflation has robbed us of. The legislature needs to give us back the right to strike. The public needs to acknowledge our vital role in this community and show us increased support and respect. Management needs to back up and get out of our way. And the do-nothing local media needs to wake up from its slumber as real news flies past its runny nose.

VOTE NO! For all of us, not “yes sir” to yet another collective shaft. As I recall, unions have historically FOUGHT for the best, not rolled over for the propaganda machine.

Remember who gets the gold is usually not who does the work.

In solidarity, Deke