United States Version PDF - Amalgamated Transit Union

A MESSAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENTPolitical CoalitionsEssential to ProgressThe recently completed ATU Legislative Conference, which was enthusiastically attendedby numerous local union officers, once again brought home to me that the ATU has built aneffective coalition of combined interests and programs that have bettered the lives of workingmen and women, particularly those in the transit industry.We have worked to create this coalition on three fronts: legislative, organizing, and political.The ATU has also built coalitions with our sisters and brothers in other unions, throughour affiliations with the AFL-CIO and the CLC, and our locals’ affiliations with state laborfederations and central labor councils.When the ATU first organized in 1892, the fights were fierce against the employers but we didnot need to rely on politicians, legislators or community groups. Nor were we fighting againstgiant transit corporations or large public transit systems. The fight to organize 115 years ago wasa local struggle.The Legislative FrontToday, legislation supporting our members cannot get through Congress, state legislatures,or the provincial and federal governments of Canada, unless we support local and nationalpoliticians when they run for office, and hold them accountable once they get there. Without ourATU activists contributing their dollars, their shoe leather and their votes, a very significant partof our coalition would not exist.When webuild thesecoalitions,working menand womenwin.The Organizing FrontToday, we cannot organize the unorganized without this same coalition of supporters. Weneed politicians at all levels of government to support our efforts, and we need our allies in Laborto join in our campaigns.Organizing private employees in the United States will, for example, only become trulyequitable when Congress passes, and a president signs, the currently pending “Employee FreeChoice Act.” This legislation would give employees in the United States the same right whichworkers in most Canadian provinces and most countries throughout the industrialized worldalready have – the right to union card check recognition. This means that when a majority ofemployees in a potential bargaining unit indicate that they want ATU as their representative,upon adequate proof, the employer must recognize and bargain with the ATU.The Political FrontOn a more local level, when we organize school bus or paratransit workers, we seek thesupport of our political allies whether they sit on city councils, school boards or transitauthorities. We want and need the support of state and provincial labor federations andlocal councils. We need the support of the riding public and community groups.When we build these coalitions, working men and women win.Today, the legislative, political, and organizing departments of the ATU workclosely together to help assist and build these coalitions. We will continue to buildthis Union by working through all of these agendas to build a better future for ourmembers today and for those to come.www.atu.org MARCH/APRIL 2007 3