transit

  • Transit Workers Look to Bust the Austerity Box

    Like public sector workers everywhere, New York City’s transit workers face a withering attack on our compensation and our collective organization. The conditions for austerity began long ago, but resistance to these political decisions is possible, though not easy.

  • Public Employees Need the Right To Strike
    John Samuelsen
    Jan 4 2012 - 11:17am

    Both Republican and Democratic governors have bludgeoned public workers into massive cuts. Maybe, while we’re under such a ferocious attack, this is the time for unions to look past the right to bargain and assert the right to strike.

  • Toronto-Area Transit Workers Strike against Privatization
    Mischa Gaus
    Dec 1 2011 - 12:11pm

    “The problem is privatization,” says Toronto-area transit union leader Bob Kinnear, so bus drivers are on strike to bring the problem to the public. Passengers north of Toronto pay the highest fares in the area, but workers get the lowest wages.

  • Oil Pipeline Fight Roils Unions
    Jenny Brown
    Nov 7 2011 - 10:16am

    U.S. unions are bitterly split on whether an oil pipeline should be built between Canada and Texas. The conflict has hamstrung the Blue-Green Alliance, which unifies union and environmental efforts, as transit unions argue labor must look beyond its own interests.

  • Transit Union Takes Education On the Road
    Jane Slaughter
    Sep 13 2011 - 9:56am

    The Amalgamated Transit Union is educating local leaders around the country about what’s wrong with the economy, helping bus drivers and mechanics who’ve seen transit funding slashed to understand some ugly truths. Squarely in the center is the impact of military spending on public budgets.

  • Honor All Labor. It’s the Right Thing To Do.

    A CWA business agent visiting family in Peru was surprised to find well-educated and well-paid doctors and teachers waking up early to rally on behalf of striking bus drivers. Why aren't Americans in the habit? Well, it starts with us. Bring a little Lima (or Wisconsin) to your hometown.

  • Get on the Bus: Transit Union Looks to Ally with Riders
    Paul McLennan
    Apr 13 2011 - 3:37pm

    Responding to near-universal threats of budget cuts and privatization, transit workers and transit riders are learning to work together, like these Toronto activists did. A transit union's “boot camps” are their proving grounds.

  • Reformer Elected to Head ATU Transit Union

    Update! Thursday, Sept. 30

    Larry Hanley was elected president today of the 190,000-member Amalgamated Transit Union, which organizes bus drivers in cities across the U.S. and Canada, by delegates to the ATU Convention. Hanley helped found the Keep America Moving coalition to build support for mass transit. Labor Notes' Mark Brenner interviewed him this month about how he would run the ATU differently and organize transit workers together with community members.

  • New York Musters to Fight as Layoffs Sweep Mass Transit

    The recession has hammered transit agencies across the country. Some 700 New York City transit workers—mostly bus operators and station agents—have been laid off since May and another 200–300 may be gone by the end of the summer.

  • As Budget D-Day Nears, NY Transit Workers Hose Down MTA's Dirty Tricks with a Pool Party

    With huge service cuts and layoffs looming, New York’s transit crisis is the thin edge of a wedge threatening to up-end reliable bus and subway service in communities nationwide.