Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) bus drivers are on strike. Thyrie Bland at the Pensacola News Journal writes ECAT drivers on strike, Wage issue halts public transit for thousands.
The human aspect of the bus drivers going on strike is inescapable. Their riders are their customers. They are people who don’t have personal transportation and that includes the working poor. They also include physically handicapped folk like Mr. Freeman. Regardless, these are folks that need to get to their jobs so they can put food on the table and pay their bills, get to the store or the doctor.
Being responsible for creating a hardship on those with no alternative transportation is unconscionable. But is also standard fare for organized labor negotiating tactics. A lesson about labor unions and liberals in general is that they are liberals first, they are union first, and you are not on their list.
I bet these riders vote. And I also bet that they will remember who it was that caused them to miss work. It was a government labor union member who has a full-time job making from $12-16 an hour.
According to Michael Lowery, president of Local 1395 . . .
The employees have gone over 1,000 days without a raise, and working conditions are the worst I’ve seen in 16 years.
No raise in a couple of years huh? How does it feel (government labor union member) to be more like your neighbors? The ones that still have a job. Surprise! It happens in the private sector too! That’s life in the big city. The article brings to question a dispute of one half on one percent. If there’s a half of a percent in dispute in the current contract, then ‘work’ it out.
Working conditions? What working conditions? With all due respect to the drivers, you drive a bus.
Worst working conditions in 16 years? Which begs the question, when the head of my local labor union says that my working conditions are the worst that they’ve been in 16 years, just what am I paying my dues for?
Here’s an idea . . .
Sorry I didn’t address this, and patriotism.
About the picture, clenched fist, all that. That was to make the point about the logo, if you will, and its long history in labor movements in the rest of the socialist world. I don’t think that the people pictured carrying the signs even know that, let alone are marxists, etc. At any rate, it was not intended to say that those people, who I don’t know, are not patriotic or are marxists.
What’s to debate Mike? The quotes here were represented in the PNJ to be from you. If they were not your words, and if it were me being mis-quoted, I’d ask the PNJ to make a ‘correction.’
What is my political viewpoint Mike? Paying more for labor than I have to is not political, it is economic.
My political viewpoint is that there is no place for labor unions in the public sector for two reasons, they cost taxpayers more than necessary (that’s what the turmoil in Wisconsin was all about), and the effects of a strike shutting down or stopping needed government services.
Would you like to defend leaving your riders (poor, handicapped, or medically fragile) stranded with no way to get around? There are ways that bus drivers can make more money if they want to. Move to a community that pays higher wages.
I don’t ride buses because I have my own personal transportation. And I don’t drive buses either.
Thank you for your service to our country Mike. Not that patriotism is relevant to the topic or anything. It isn’t.
I’m glad you found my blog Mike. Maybe you could answer the last para?
Ross,
Please contact me directly to quote me and the facts regarding the strike. In fact well over the majority understood why our members went on strike. From your article it is obvious that you found an opportunity to push your political view point. In fact I’d wager to guess you don’t even ride the bus. Also before you start lumping our members in marxists, anarchists, communists, etc. Many of my members are proud Americans – you’d probably be surprised to know that some that stood on that strike line on Wednesday, September 21st served 20+ years in the military. A few fought in wars for this country. I for one worn with pride the 101st Airborne patch on my shoulder for 2 1/2 years while serving in the U. S. Army. So just because we have a Union does not mean we’re not like you. In fact I bet I’ve lived a more patriotic life than you. The only difference is I fight for my country and I fight for what is right in my country, like fair treatment and wages at my workplace. So you want to have a debate – bring it on. I’d love it! Mike Lowery, President, ATU Local 1395