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As corporate front groups attempt to tear down the community; labor continues to build
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Teamsters organize while front groups complain
If it bleeds it leads is the conventional corporate media editorial policy that promotes tea party activists who denounce the people’s choice of an African American president and town hall disrupters who prevent dialogue about providing health care for the uninsured. While those corporate front groups attempt to organize workers to take a stand against their own interests, union members and workers continue to be the lifeblood of the community.
The Teamsters continue to organize, mobilize and build their communities, not because they have orders from the top but because they are the community. On any given week union members and workers who have been prevented from exercising their right to organize take their cause to the streets. While corporate front groups and Fox News Channel sends out marching orders from headquarters, union leaders answer their member’s call and go to the people.
Recently, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa demonstrated that principle as he pledged his support for the more than 1,700 Long Island school bus workers who are fighting for respect at Baumann Bus at a rally.
The workers, who filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board on October 5, are organizing with the Teamsters to gain respect, fair and equal treatment on the job and affordable health care.
"Every single one of you deserves to be respected in the workplace, and I'm here to tell you that the Teamsters Union is going to be your partner in this fight," Hoffa said. "We are here to tell the company that it is time it recognized the valuable work their workers do."
Hundreds of Baumann workers rallied for respect with Hoffa and prominent political and community leaders, including Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Rep. Steve Israel (D, 2nd); Leg. Bill Lindsay (Suffolk County, 8th Dist.); Leg. Kate Browning (Suffolk County, 3rd Dist.); Leg. David Mejias (Nassau County); and John Durso, President of the Long Island Federation of Labor.
Several drivers, driver assistants and mechanics addressed the crowd at the rally, demanding respect from their employer, Ronald Baumann. Baumann who owns the four transportation companies -- Baumann & Sons, Acme Bus, Alert Coach and Brookset Bus -- where workers are organizing with Teamsters Local 1205.
"I know lots of parents at this company who can't afford medicine for their sick kids. We shouldn't have to choose between being healthy and being able to pay the bills," said Debbie Masching, a 30-year bus driver and mother of two who works at the Copiague yard. "We will never get the respect we deserve at Baumann unless we have a strong union backing us up. With the Teamsters I know we will win that respect!"
"We're here today because we need a change. We have an important job carrying people's children. We are the heart of this company and we don't get respect. I am confident that we will get that respect with the Teamsters," said Pamela Mason, a driver at Baumann's Bohemia yard.
"I look forward to representing the workers at Baumann Bus," said Teamsters Local 1205 President Tim Lynch. "Together we are going to win this election and negotiate a strong Teamster contract that addresses your concerns."
The Baumann organizing campaign is part of a larger movement of school bus workers who are joining the Teamsters in record numbers. Drive Up Standards is a national campaign by the Teamsters to improve safety, service and work standards in the private school bus and transit industry. The campaign is in the midst of a "fall offensive" featuring organizing efforts at nearly 50 bus yards. Since the campaign began in 2006, more than 20,000 workers have become Teamsters.
That same day President Hoffa joined Teamster carhaulers at a General Motors dealership on Long Island to hand out leaflets alerting car buyers of efforts by bailed-out auto giants to destroy the auto transport industry.
The Teamsters Union is launching a national campaign to protect good-paying, skilled, middle-class carhaul jobs at companies at risk of going bankrupt under demands by GM and Chrysler for dramatic and unsustainable cuts that will not be passed on to consumers. GM and Chrysler received billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds intended to save American jobs.
Hoffa and Teamster members will warn consumers that the cars they purchase could be delivered by inexperienced drivers with substandard equipment that greatly risk damaging the new vehicles. Yet customers will still be charged mandatory "destination fees" of $900 or more that have no relation to the actual cost of transporting a vehicle
Finally, the following video highlights law enforcement officers who have organized to improve their lives. While corporate front groups continue to push back against progress, workers be they car haulers, bus drivers or law enforcement take pride in their community, their work and their union.
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