Striking New York City bus drivers march in defense of jobs

Striking New Yotk workers on the march yesterday

Yesterday,  Sunday, February 10th, New York labour and community organisations joined bus drivers in a protest march in a protest march over the Brooklyn Bridge culminating in a rally outside City Hall. They went to demand that Mayor Bloomberg back down on a decision to re-negotiate their contracts. The march and rally were held with the strike in its fourth week.

The demonstration came just a day before new bids were to be submitted to the Department of Education for school busing contracts that will not include the Employment Protection Provisions (EPP) that were introduced in the 1960s and institutionalized following a 13-week strike in 1979. The EPP ensures that experienced workers do not lose their jobs if their companies lose out in bidding for a new contract and that companies winning the bids hire them first with their seniority and existing wages and benefits intact. This was the first major rally called by the union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, in nearly a month since the strike began. Drivers, matrons and mechanics who have been walking picket lines at bus yards in isolated corners of the city, where they are prevented from blocking scab buses being sent out daily, were clearly enthusiastic about coming together in greater numbers in the heart of the city.

Over 8,000 workers are on strike to protect their job security and in turn ensure the safe transportation of the 150,000 New York City children that ride their school buses each day.  Mayor Bloomberg has the power to end the strike if he would just come to the table and negotiate with the union and school bus contractors.  ATU Local 1181 members have even agreed to return to the job without a settlement as long as the Mayor postpones the City’s bid for school bus contracts, giving all parties an opportunity to work toward an agreement that keeps the most experienced and highly skilled workers on the buses, and addresses the need for cost savings in the system.

Bloomberg’s refusal to negotiate is costing New York City millions of dollars and hurting children, parents and workers.

The march was supported by Amalgamated Transit Union International; ATU Local 1181; New York City Council Black, Latino, Asian Caucus; New York City Council Progressive Caucus; NYS AFL-CIO; NYC Central Labor Council; Working Families Party; New York Communities for Change; Alliance for Quality Education; PIST; The Black Institute; Haitian Roundtable; UFT; TWU; SEIU 1199.