The author is an organizer for the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
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In the past few weeks, San Francisco has been immersed in a struggle that has mobilized a diverse group of community and labor activists, including members of the ANSWER Coalition, around one of the most critical public services offered by the city: transit. The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency, in charge of transit- and traffic-related services, including the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI), has found itself at the center of a struggle over how to finance the MTA’s massive deficit, estimated at more than $100 million over the next two years.
Since the MTA announced plans in September 2009 to find new funding sources, we have seen car drivers targeted by a proposal to extend parking-meter hours to weekday evenings and Sundays. Working-class and low-income people hit by gentrification have turned to driving because of a lack of viable public transit options, or because they can no longer afford MUNI fares, which have doubled since Mayor Gavin Newsom took office.
But the attacks went further. In December 2009, union service cleaners and other transit workers were laid off in droves as the MTA sought to make up their deficit on the backs of working-class and low-income people. The last straw was when the MTA proposed doubling the price of monthly passes from $15 to $30—a move that would impact primarily youth, seniors and the disabled. This would come on top of a 10 percent service-wide reduction for the already collapsing MUNI.
The proposals produced a firestorm of public anger. In one last attempt to split the working-class and low-income community, the MTA tried to direct people’s anger at union bus drivers, who have long been used as scapegoats by San Francisco politicians and corporate media. On Feb. 16, it was announced that the MTA’s negotiated contract with the MUNI drivers union, TWU Lo. 250-A, had been rejected by the majority of its membership.
A vicious propaganda campaign quickly ensued, blaming the disastrous service cuts and fare hikes on MUNI drivers. Not once did the smear articles mention the bloated salaries of directors and administrators whose policies and mismanagement have contributed greatly to the deficit. The largely African American union, which has long fought for livable wages and benefits, was thrown on the defensive.
But on Feb. 26, in an inspiring show of solidarity, the people rejected these divisive tactics and stood united with the drivers and against the MTA. They demanded that the agency “Chop from the top!” and “Tax the rich!” The people overflowed City Hall in an uncoordinated movement, and speaker after speaker railed against the MTA, the service cuts and fare hikes, and the attacks on car drivers and union bus drivers. Speakers denounced the racist targeting of minority communities whose bus lines have experienced terrorizing police raids to arrest poverty-stricken riders left with no option but to evade the $2 fare.
Three hours and a hundred speakers later, the board voted down the price increase for discounted passes, yet it approved massive cuts to services. The intervention achieved only partial success, but one thing was for sure: The MTA found itself confronting a new movement.
ANSWER Coalition intervenes
The MTA sought to sow a “don’t take from me, take from them” attitude among the different groups targeted by the proposed cutbacks, hoping that divisiveness would break up any resistance to its attacks. Along with other forces, the ANSWER Coalition fought for unity. Every cutback targeted the working class. Overpaid city administrators and directors, and especially the rich of San Francisco were asked to make no sacrifices.
After Feb. 26, following months of public comments at MTA hearings, massive outreach to the poor and working-class communities, and the presenting of simple unifying demands, a spark was lit in the halls of power. Community organizers now had a seat at the table along with transit advocates. This gave the local community are voice in this struggle.
Our communities have witnessed bailouts for banks, corporations and billionaires. Our communities have witnessed endless wars for which there is never a shortage of funds, while social programs and public services are gutted. Now many are saying, “Enough is enough.”
Whether it is cuts and hikes to education, health care, housing, social services and even transportation, only a unified grassroots movement of the people will radically shift the status quo from meeting the profit needs of the capitalists to meeting the needs of working-class people.
