In response to the Wisconsin State
Senate’s March 9 vote to eliminate public workers’ collective
bargaining rights, Washington, D.C., transit workers preemptively
took to the streets to stave off potential attacks on their hard-won
rights.
During a busy rush hour morning on
March 10, hundreds of transit workers rallied, picketed and chanted
in the pouring rain outside the front entrance of the headquarters of
the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority.
“We’re here to tell WMATA,
‘Wisconsin will not happen here!’” said Jackie Jeter, the
president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which
represented the vast majority of demonstrators assembled. Jeter
called the Wisconsin State Senate’s actions “criminal.”
“Right now, while unions are under
attack and being scapegoated in state after state and city after
city, we’re here to say ‘Yes’
to collective bargaining and final
and binding arbitration,” Jeter continued.
The protesters began their picket line
beneath the overhanging entrance of the building, which provided
sorely needed shelter from the heavy rain. Only moments later,
however, Metro Transit Police were called in to force the protesters
out from under the shelter and into the heavy rain, claiming they
were trespassing on private property.
Protesters held ATU Local 689 placards
that read “We know what final and binding arbitration means. Do
you?” and “Put safety first and stop paying lip service,” and
chanted “Honor Our Contracts,” “We Make It Work” and “Hey
Hey, Ho Ho, Union Busting has Got to Go.”-
One of the many Metro bus drivers in
attendance explained that Metro workers have been without a contract
for two-and-a-half years and that the purpose of the protest was to
say to WMATA management that any attacks on transit workers rights in
Washington, D.C., would be met with fierce resistance.
When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker began
his offensive against the collective bargaining rights of public
workers – a policy conspicuously absent from his campaign platform
– he apparently did not take into account the full spectrum of
forces he would be setting into motion.
It was to be expected that other
capitalist class representatives in government would follow suit.
States in addition to Wisconsin that have initiated some form of
attack on workers have steadily increased and now include Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
However, considering the overwhelming
upsurge of protest by workers, students and their supporters around
the country, it appears that Walker’s calculations failed to
include the force that stands in opposition to his anti-worker
initiatives – the rapidly developing solidarity that can only be
expected to increase as the struggle continues to unfold.
