Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Ma
rch
20
12
The President’s Report
by President, Paul J. Bachtel
March Labor history caLendar
Page 3WorkpLace safety
needs to start at the top
Page 4resoLution in support of the se-attLe port truckers association
Page 4 safety neWs
Page 5to be a strong union –
or not to be
Page 5Letters to the editor
Page 6operators stick together Like
faMiLy out on the road
Page 7transit’s funding crisis Wors-ened by state’s tax structure
Page 12the eLection is coMing!
and iMportant eLection dates
Page 12
Visit online: www.atu587.com VOL. XXXV, NO. 3
Long-Term Stable Funding for Transit
continued on page 8
With the onset on the 2012 legislative session Local 587 is hard at work seeking
long-term stable funding for transit on both federal and state levels.
On the federal level: many of our members received letters from Local 587 seeking their assistance in peti-tioning Congressman Dave Reichert and Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler to support federal legislation providing operating assistance for local transit agencies. The signed petitions, which were returned to Local 587, were forwarded to our ATU International office, and com-bined with petitions gathered by other ATU locals across America, were presented to our representa-tives in congress. At the time of this writing, the bill providing federal operating assistance for local transit agencies is still pending.
On the state level: Local 587 is active in our Washington State Legislative Caucus (WSLC) which is comprised of representatives from ATU locals across Washington. WSLC employs Sister Sara Franklin as its lobbyist in Olympia. Sister
Franklin is a King County Metro Transit Operator and the daughter of former State Senator Rosa Franklin. Senator Rosa Franklin, now retired, was the first African American woman elected to the Washington State Senate. Needless to say, having been raised by Rosa Franklin, Sara Franklin knows her way around Olympia and knows the movers and shakers in our state capitol.
As our lobbyist, Sara Franklin is promoting long-term stable fund-ing for transit utilizing a collective position statement developed by Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC). TCC joined with Local 587 in writing its collective position state-ment bringing together pro transit, pro labor, and pro environmental communities. This is exactly the same concept we employed in our successful campaign to win passage of the Congestion Reduction Charge and is consistent with the teachings of our International President, Larry Hanley.
The position of TCC (and Local 587) is as follows:
“Dear Legislators,
As Washington climbs out of the recession and the economy begins to turn around, a key component to ensure our success is a safe, functional and efficient transportation system to help get our economy moving again. We all know that a great transportation system requires significant investment.
The Connecting Washington Task Force concluded that investment in a strong state transportation system must be a balance between roads and transit. While we are pleased that the Governor took the first step in proposing new transportation revenue, we have significant concerns about the overall proposal.
Simply put, it is not balanced.
We strongly believe that for a trans-portation funding proposal to be suc-cessful it must adhere to several basic principles.
Stable transit funding to meet growing demand
March 2012
2
Business of the Membership
At the February 2012 cycle of membership meetings the follow-ing business was addressed: none
The following members were February pot draw winners: Teri Al-len at the Charter meeting, Tammy
Gorbatenko at the Morning meeting, Troy McKelvey at the JTA meeting, Ed Stanard at the CTS meeting. Rolling pot draw of $200.00 was rolled over to the next month. Next month’s rolling pot will be $225.00.
The Month at a Glance
Tentative AgendaCHARTER MEETING Thursday, March 1, 20128:00 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA(Note: room change for this meeting.)
MORNING MEETING Friday, March 2, 201210:30 a.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #82800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA(Note: room change for this meeting.)
JEFFERSON TRANSITMonday, March 5, 20127:00 p.m. Port Townsend Rec CenterPort Townsend, WA
CLALLAM TRANSITTuesday, March 6, 20127:00 p.m.Vern Burton Memorial BuildingPort Angeles, WA
Membership Meetings:
Executive Board Report
February 21, 2012
All officers were present with the exception of Executive Board Officer Dee Wakenight was out sick.
The following business was conducted:
Motion: By Ray Mason to endorse the “Resolution in support of fair-ness and safety for the Seattle Port Truckers Association” as submitted by Linda Averill, Greg Beiter, Chuck Lare, and Doug Frechin and as printed in the News Review.
Motion: By Michael Moore to accept the primary ballots as pre-sented.
Motion: By Neal Safrin to recom-mend the membership forward the grievance of Antonio Bridges to arbitration.
Motion: By Ninus Hopkins to rec-ommend the membership approve the bylaws amendment correcting job classifications in Article III as submitted by Bruce Tiebout.
Motion: By Hal Poor to accept the budget as amended.
Published monthly in Seattle.
Official publication of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, AFL-CIO, representing employees of Metro/King County, Clallam Transit, Jefferson Transit, Seattle Personal Transit, and First Transit.
2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, Washington 98121Telephone: 206-448-8588.
Affiliations: Washington State Labor Council, King County Labor Council, Northwest Joint Con-ference Board, ATU Legislative Council, Olympic
Labor Council.
Letters to the editorLetters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish.
Send letters to:
Judy Youngc/o ATU Local 587 News Review 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230Seattle, WA 98121
Weingarten rights stateMentI request to have a union representative present on my behalf dur-
ing this meeting because I believe it may lead to disciplinary action taken against me. If I am denied my right to have a union representative present, I will refuse to answer accusational questions and any I believe
may lead to discipline.
PAUL J. BAchTeL Pres/Business Agent email – [email protected]
J. RIcK SePOLeN 1st Vice President/Assistant Business Agent / email – [email protected]
DON MacADAM 2nd Vice President/ Assistant Business Agent, Maintenance
email – [email protected] PAUL B. NeIL Financial Secretary email – [email protected] YOUNg Recording Secretary Editor 587 News Review email – [email protected]
OFFIceRS OF The AMALgAMATeD TRANSIT UNION, LOcAL 587:
Web site: http://www.atu587.com
Minority Affairs Office RAy CAMPBELLVehicle Maintenance Position #1 KERMIT C. GIPSON JR.Vehicle Maintenance Position #2 PATRICK STEVENSVehicle Maintenance Position #3 CLINT DE VOSSFacilities Maintenance DAN THORNESupervisors MICHAEL SHEASpecial Classifications ERIC BUTLERKing County Units Outside KCM NINUS HOPKINSTransit Operator Position #1 NEAL SAFRINTransit Operator Position #2 MICHAEL MOORETransit Operator Position #3 DEE WAKENIGHTTransit Operator Position #4 LISA NAULTTransit Operator Position #5 ANDREW JEROMSKyTransit Operator Position #6 HAL POOR Transit Operator Position #7 LINDA ANDERSONTransit Operator Position #8 RAy MASONClallam / Jefferson County ROBERT EASHRail Representative CHUCK MILLER
“Memories are the treasures that we keep locked deep within the storehouse of our souls, to keep our hearts
warm when we are lonely.”~ Becky Aligada
Please notify the union office of any member’s passing so that this information may be shared with the rest of our union family.
In Loving Memory…
Christian Collingwood, South Base Operator, pass away on February 5, 2012. Brother Collin-gwood joined Local 587 August 8, 2008 as a Part-time Transit Operator.
Joe Siesling, a retired Service Supervisor, passed away on Feb-
ruary 4, 2012. Brother Siesling joined Local 587 in March of 1968 and retired in 1998.
John Wolfenden, retired Tran-sit Operator, passed away on Feb-ruary 13, 2012. Brother Wolfenden joined the Local in July 1, 1972 and retired in 2008.
WEdNESdAy MEETING Wednesday, March 7, 20123:30 p.m.The Labor Temple, Hall #12800 1st Ave., Seattle, WA(Note: room change for this meeting.)
Among Topics to be discussed: Grievance and Arbitration UpdateNominations for the 2012 Officer Elections will be held at the March
cycle of membership meetings. Please consult your Notice of Elections posted on the worksite Union
bulletin boards for further information.
Unfinished Business: Vote on propose bylaw change Article X, Section 5 carried over from the February cycle of union meetings.
Proud To Be ATU180,000 Strong
KEEP YOUR ADDRESS CURRENT!(A request from our Local 8 Union office staff)
Throughout the year Local 587 mails letters to our membership. With each mailing sent, the union receives a small percentage of letters returned due to improper address.
Local 587 maintains a database that in part includes the names and addresses of our King County Metro members. The King County Metro section of the database is updated monthly from data provided by King County Metro.
If you are a King County Metro employee and your name and address is not current with King County Metro, you may not receive Union mailings. Please keep your name and address current with King County Metro.
March 2012
3
A r b i t r a t i o n U p d a t e1. Ray Beltran: Grieved forced
upgrade to dispatcher, schedule pending.
2. Christopher McClure: Grieved suspension for alleged negli-gence in derailment, scheduled for February 28, 2012.
3. Ernest Kirschnick: Grieved ter-mination for alleged violation of Metro policy, scheduled April 4, 2012.
4. Thomas Miller: Grieved failure of Metro to upgrade a Mechanic to Lead enabling skimming of Local 587 work by a Local 587 member working in a Local 17 capacity, scheduled for April 9, 2012.
5. Frederic Segelbaum: Grieved termination for alleged gross mis-conduct, scheduled May 15, 2012.
6. Michael Gallagher: Grieved ter-mination for alleged falsification, scheduled May 11 & 17, 2012.
7. Richard Wischman: Grieved traditional duties performed outside of classification, schedule pending.
8. Symantha Cola: Grieved sus-pension for alleged misconduct, schedule pending.
Unless you participate there will always be things that you do not understand.
Some very common questions include: What has the union done for me lately? Why is (blank) done this way? Why don’t “they” change it? Why does everything take so long to change when it’s good, and never change when it’s bad? you get the idea.
When I hired on at Metro someone told me that Metro was the army with a union. Really think about that statement for a while. We have uniforms, drivers at least, enough rules to choke a horse, and the ever popular policies and procedures. This framework makes everything work, or at least it makes everything hurry up and wait. Not so different from being in the service, SNAFU, FUBAR, et al does apply to transit as we know it.
How can a democratic, member-
based union possibly function in this atmosphere? There are 3 sets of rules; the company rules, the union rules, and the real rules.
To find out how it all fits together, and makes the entire system work, you need to study how all this has and does come to pass. The company is mostly reactive, reacting to situ-ations by making new policies and procedures to address the newest situation. The union is proactive, addressing situations BEFORE they become problems.
The real rules get us through these “bumps in the road” while the machine is still grinding away on the problems.
To be part of the solution instead of being part of the problem you should be a participating member in the union, make suggestions, ask questions, and help your fellow operators. The easiest way to do this is to attend union meetings.
Why attend union meetings?
By Executive Board Officer Dee Wakenight
1962—ATU International officers tour 587-operated Seattle monorail in anticipation of the Seattle World’s Fair, noting “[t]he feasibility of Monorail as a solution to the com-muter transportation problems in densely populated areas is being tested severely in Seattle.” (In Transit, June-July 1962, p 12)
2 March
1990—Greyhound strike
3 March
1990—ATU brother Robert Wa-terhouse was crushed to death when an Oregon-bound bus driven by a scab pinned him against a concrete wall while picketing the Greyhound terminal in Redding, CA. Several union members tried unsuccessfully to stop the bus after it hit Waterhouse. The scab motored out of Redding before stopping and flagging down a passing patrol of-ficer. He was returned to Redding for questioning but not arrested.
4 March
1634—First tavern in America opened, Boston, MA.
1913—Department of Labor founded.
6 March
1987—Boring of Seattle’s down-town transit tunnel begins.
8 March
1911— First International Wom-en’s Day is celebrated, in Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, and the US.
1991—Conviction handed down
to the murderer of Silme and Do-mingo, reform leaders in Seattle can-nery union that served the Alaskan fishing industry. The murderer’s connections to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos contributed to Marcos’ downfall.
2012—The Journey of the Pablo O’Higgins Mural for the Seattle Ship Scalers Union, Gigi Peterson, SUNy-Cortland, 7pm - 9pm. Reception to follow. Walker-Ames Room, Kane Hall, UW Seattle. FREE. The Pablo O’Higgins mural “The Struggle Against Racial Discrimination,” now hanging in UW’s Kane Hall, was painted in 1945 for the Seattle Ship Scaler’s Union. The mural was later donated to the University of Washington, and after a campaign led by UW MEChA and Seattle’s El Centro de la Raza, it was restored and hung on campus in 1975. Pe-terson will discuss her research on the life of Pablo O’Higgins, the Ship Scalers Union, and the mural that brought them together. Reception to follow.
March 11
1912—IWW (I Will Win) union wins the “Bread & Roses” Lawrence Textile Strike.
As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for — but we fight for roses, too!
— James Oppenheim, “Bread & Roses”
13 March
1963—Labor Local 260 of Hous-ton negotiates first contract with
March Labor History CalendarSubmitted by Bill Clifford
Pioneer Bus, ending dual pay scales for black and white drivers.
14 March
1990—sixteen disabled rights activists arrested at the US Capi-tol demanding passage of what becomes the Americans with Dis-abilities Act (ADA).
19 March
1962—In effort to block mas-sive layoffs and end a strike, New york City moves to condemn and seize Fifth Avenue Coach, largest privately owned bus company in the World.
20 March
1969 —Seattle Transit stops mak-ing change for fares. In Seattle, 18 drivers were robbed in 1967 and 25 fell victim in 1968. In the first two months of 1969, there were 15 more robberies. Over the years, drivers had been assaulted during robberies and one was murdered.
22 March
1972—Congress approves Equal Rights Amendment (ERA, never ratified).
1974—Founding CLUW (Coali-tion of Labor Union Women) Con-vention.
25 March
1921—Ladies Auxiliary of Amal-gamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees, Divi-sion 587 (now ATU Local 587) was formed.
30 March
2012—The Harry Bridges Center will partner with campus depart-ments at the University of Wash-ington and local labor organizations to host two days of hearings on the unemployment crisis in America. A new website, http://www.unem-ployednation.org has all the details (e.g. the time of day), including regular news and analysis of the issue of joblessness. More than 14 million Americans are unemployed. The Unemployed Nation Hearings will air testimony from a wide range of unemployed people about their experiences. Testimony will be supplemented with the expertise of economists, legal and political scholars, and others. Room 133, William H. Gates Hall,UW,Seattle.
31 March
2012—same as March 30, differ-ent location: Bertha Knight Landes Room, Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Av.
March 2012
4
On two days last month the Tukwila office of Labor and Industries (L&I) offered
workshops on a variety of safety related topics, such as “Develop-ing Effective Safety Committee’s,” “Accident Prevention Programs,” “Accident Investigation Basics,” “Ergonomics,” “Preventing Back Injuries,” and others.
Training of employees, includ-ing management employees, about safety related subjects has been a topic of discussion at the Labor-Management Relations Committee meetings attended by your Execu-tive Board Officers. Upper Vehicle Maintenance (VM) management was notified of the workshops about two weeks before the workshops were offered. Only two METRO employees were in attendance—a 587 E-board Officer and Atlantic Base Safety Officer Dan Nuner.
No one likes being injured par-
ticularly when some injuries are never fully recovered from; you just have to live with them the rest of your life. The worst case injury is when an employee suffers an injury that requires someone to tell their family and loved ones that they will never, ever be coming home again. I do not want anyone to ever make one of those visits.
Having effective safety rules and following them reduces the number of injuries, and also reduces the severity of the injuries that do oc-cur. The only way that the rules and guidelines can be followed is when someone knows what the rules are and how to apply them. you have a
safer workplace and are exposed to fewer hazards when the workplace leaders know what safety practices are required, and the rules have to be learned somewhere. In these tight budget times free classes are better.
Knowing the safety rules can unexpectedly come to the rescue in dealing with King County. Take for example the now flushed “Shoe Voucher”/ Shoe Check MOA, in con-tract negotiations METRO proposed that they intended to just eliminate the “Shoe Voucher” and just give us a yearly check. If during the year your boots wore out or where oth-erwise unusable you were going to have to buy your own replacement. Until one of your Executive Board Officers pointed out to King County that they were legally required to provide Personal Protective Equip-ment (PPE) under Washington law to their employees and our safety shoes are PPE. The expression on managements’ face was priceless. That Kodak moment would not have happened if management knew from being trained what their legal obligations (safety) were, and it also would not have happened if your union had not known about the rule. Knowledge is sometimes power, in this case the power to throw a wrench in METRO’s gearbox. Shame on METRO, for not knowing what they legally had to provide to their employees.
Following safety rules and pro-viding a safe workplace is not easy on anyone; frankly it can be a pain in the neck for everyone. All of us like to do it our own way and/or do it the way we have been doing
it for 20 years. When we are faced with being told we have to change and do it a different way it can be irritating and most everyone resists the change. What we need to keep in mind is that we likely will suffer fewer aches, pains, and other longer term bad effects if we try to do it the safer way rather than the way we like to do it. The other hard part is how do you tell your friend and co-worker that they need to stop endangering themselves and possibly others. A safe workplace is not easy.
A safe workplace is made im-possible when upper management and King County’s leaders are not actively involved in creating and providing a safe workplace to their employees. The only time proven and effective safety system that works is one that starts at the top and is not just lip service from the leaders.
In the economic times we cur-rently have, County leadership seems to have missed the boat; providing a safe workplace saves money. Transit Safety has estimated that significant savings could be re-alized if METRO only implemented the legal requirements (they are not currently being followed). This sav-ings primarily comes from reduced medical expenses and time-lose payments through the reduction of the number and severity of inju-ries. In all of Transit a 20% savings equals 1.3 million dollars In VM alone, 20% equals over $250,000. Other positive benefits for all are a healthier, happier, and more produc-tive workforce.
L&I estimates that at the very
minimum for every dollar spent on safety the company sees a $1.50 savings and could see much more.
Another other poorly thought through idea, is not providing light-duty work when we are injured and can still do useful and productive work. Rather King County and MET-RO in particular would rather whine and pressure people to come back to work performing their regular duties before they legitimately can. King County should take a lesson from Washington State’s new “Stay at Work” program, information available at: http://www.lni.wa.gov/main/stayatwork/
To have a safe workplace we need the right equipment, in the correct place; the leaders and the rank and file employees need safety educa-tion; and now the bitter pill, the rules must be fairly and consistently en-forced. The three “E’s” stolen from Dan Nuner (Thank you!): Equip-ment; Education; Enforcement.
Most of all, to have a safe and cost effective workplace King County’s leaders and upper level manager’s must seek safe solu-tions to problems and provide real leadership by requiring the active and routine involvement of Transit Safety in management’s decision making process, provide their managers a safety education that gives manager’s training in and knowledge of safety rules and laws, and STOP GIVING MERE LIP SERVICE TO THE SAFETy IdEA. Actually providing real leadership in safety would be a welcome change.
Workplace Safety Needs to Start at the Top
And it seems that the only way to motivate the top is to beat them into submission!
By Clint DeVoss, Executive Board Officer
Whereas: Short-haul truck-ers at the Port of Seattle have formed the Seattle
Port Truckers Association to bar-gain collectively with Port trucking companies to secure living wages, safe conditions, dignity and fair-ness; and
Whereas: These drivers, many of them immigrant, have been subject-ed to retaliation and intimidation, as well as racist treatment for standing up for themselves, and for trying to change their status as “indepen-dent contractors” by the trucking companies—a status that enables companies to avoid responsibility
for the maintenance or safety of equipment, and fines that get levied when loads are overweight; and
Whereas this system results in short-haul truckers having to work lengthy shifts, sit in traffic with little or no pay, bear the cost of fines they have no control over, and in other ways suffer abuse at the hands of a highly profitable industry; and
Whereas these drivers transport tens of billions of dollars in goods and want recognition of their asso-ciation so that they can bargain for better conditions and wages;
Be it therefore resolved that ATU 587 goes on record in support of the
Seattle Port Truckers Association and their efforts to win safe condi-tions and fair wages for a day’s work;
Be it further resolved that ATU 587 call on the Port of Seattle, a taxpayer-funded entity, to help fix the broken and cruel system for short-haul truckers, (who are labeled “contractors”), in part by supporting legislation that has passed the State House and is now in the Senate to address the status of these truckers; and
Be it finally resolved that ATU 587 send a message of support and solidarity to the Truckers As-sociation and an offer to help in all
ways available, as a union of transit workers, in keeping with the spirit of “an injury to one is an injury to all,” and that ATU 587 let its position be known to relevant bodies, including the Port, the County Council, the King County Labor Council and ATU Legislative Council.
Submitted by Linda Averill,
Ryerson Base Shop Steward Greg Beiter,
Atlantic Base Shop StewardChuck Lare,
Atlantic Base Shop StewardDoug Frechin,
North Base Operator
Resolution in support of fairness and safety for the Seattle Port Truckers Association
March 2012
5
The Joint Safety Subcommittee on
ProcurementIt may seem obvious to our mem-
bers that on-the-job injuries need to be considered as part of the total cost of purchasing a fleet of buses. One of the Union’s Safety Committee priorities that we have been pursu-ing in Joint Safety Meetings with management is to convince manage-ment that by including ergonomic features in future procurements that will reduce on-the-job injuries. The County will not only improve work-ing conditions for its employees, but it will also reduce the total cost of procurement. For example, Mike Lemeshko, Supervisor of Transit Safety, estimates that $35,000,000 was spent in L&I claims over the last five years. We are beginning to see some progress with the formation of the new Joint Safety Subcommittee on Procurement.
The initial meeting of the Joint Safety Subcommittee on Procurement was held in November 2011. The committee’s charter is to research, evaluate, and suggest innovations that could improve the safety of buses for employees and the pub-lic. The committee will make and present a business case for better alternatives to current equipment.
It will identify and determine
justifications for changes based on goals:
Short-term — recommendations that are obtainable and attainable now or in near procurements
Long-term — recommendations that will reduce liability and dis-ability in future procurements.
This new subcommittee consists of the Supervisor of Transit Safety, Mike Lemeshko; Safety Officers Ga-brielle Toutonghi and Sue Stewart; the Superintendent from Fleet Engineer-ing, George Stites; the Base Chief in charge of Operations Procurement, Tim Mack; and two Union representa-tives, Brian Sherlock and myself. We have had three meetings to date. At our next meeting we will be joined by the Superintendent of Revenue Vehicle Procurement, Steve Policar. He will explain the nuts and bolts of procurement to the Subcommittee.
Driver’s Workstation Survey
The first project of the Joint Safety Subcommittee on Procurement has already gotten off the ground. For the first time, Local 587 Transit Operators are being asked what changes we would like see in the Driver’s workstation of our coaches. The Union is partnering with King County Transit Safety and the Uni-versity of Washington Engineering Department in a project that will
determine how our Driver’s station can be improved in order to cut back on our on-the-job injuries. Toward that end, UW engineering students (the UW ISE King County Metro Senior Design Team) have designed a survey that will help focus attention on redesigning those features in the Driver’s station that will have the most impact on reducing on-the-job injuries and improving our working conditions.
The Union requests that Transit Operators make it a priority to complete this survey. The Opera-tion Bases will have paper copies of the survey that can be turned in at the window, where they will be sent to Transit Safety. Alternatively, operators can complete the survey electronically by going to the fol-lowing web site:
http://tinyurl.com/kingcountymetroThis link is being added to the
base computers as a shortcut for an additional option for completing the survey.
The Orion 7000sSeveral problems have appeared
in the newest additions to our fleet. The first issue is that the left side mir-rors that we received on the buses are not the ones that the Operations Procurement Team and Transit Safety thought they were ordering. The left side mirror is much too big,
sits too high, and creates a massive blind spot alongside the left corner pillar. The Union’s protest was met with an immediate commitment to replace the left side mirrors with Gillig mirrors. A prototype is now in service at South Base to solicit opera-tor comment. We hope all 7000s will receive the retrofit soon, before more pedestrian accidents take place.
Rough braking seems to be the biggest complaint from South Base Operators. As of our last Joint Safety meeting at the end of January, the problem was thought to be either a software issue or a problem with a computer chip. A former Orion representative has been hired by Metro and is working with Vehicle Maintenance to resolve the problem.
Additionally, according to our order, the Orions were specified to have independent traction control. The Orions that were delivered have axle traction control, instead. While the County and Orion are discuss-ing the issue, it appears clear that Orion has never designed a system with independent traction control; therefore, it seems unlikely that future deliveries of the 7000s will have it. Transit Safety, Fleet Engi-neering, and Orion are also working on a solution to the incredibly slow operation of the rear doors.
I will have further updates for you in the coming months.
Safety NewsBy Neal Safrin, ATU Local 587 Safety Committee Chairperson
When we join a labor union our responsibility isn’t over, it’s just begun.
What are some factors that help build a strong relationship?
• Mutual respect• Commitment• An ability to learn from one
another• Shared responsibility• An ability to work through
conflict• The capacity to recognize our
strengths and weaknesses• An ability to respond to chal-
lenges and to grow
As individual members of Local 587, what are we contributing to our union to make it strong?
• Paying our dues and voting is not enough to sustain our union.
• Being a shop steward, in name only, is not enough to sustain our union.
• Being quick to point out other’s mistakes without offering some possible solutions will not sustain our union.
• Making a practice out of waiting for someone else to step up and fill a need will not sustain our union.
By now, most of us are aware of what’s been happening nation-wide that affect us as represented, public employees:
• Union Busting• Budget Shortfalls• Open Hostility Towards Public
Employees• Unrealistic Work Schedules• Loss of Benefits• Layoffs
For those of us that have the expectation that we can sit back and let our Local 587 officers, staff, board members and shop stewards do all the work to protect us and our jobs—we need to open our eyes and get real! That isn’t going to keep
our Local 587 strong and effective. Just ask labor union members in Wisconsin.
What will keep us strong and effective is action, both individu-ally and collectively.
Here are some action items you can take:
• Become an active shop steward.• I f you are a l ready a shop
steward—ask your chief shop steward if you can meet as a group, once a month, to review Metro policy changes, contract language and current grievance trends at your base, along with best practices in preparing a grievance.
• Make regular contributions to COPE. If you are already contrib-uting to COPE—increase your contribution.
• Regularly attend union meetings.• Think of ideas that will keep our
union strong—that will make us
proactive rather than reactive to changing times.
• Share your ideas with union lead-ership and be willing to work to make those ideas a reality.
• Share your ideas with other members by writing articles for our Local 587 newspaper.
• If you think one of our officers or a staff member made an error or you disagree with how they handled something—respectfully, talk to them about it.
• Take the time to let a union rep-resentative know when they get something right.
If we are satisfied with the direc-tion our union is going—we need to work to keep things status quo. If we are dissatisfied with the direction our union is heading—we need to work to correct it’s course.
Let’s get busy!
To Be A Strong Union – Or Not To Be…
Submitted by Cherise Millhouse, Chief Shop Steward, Ryerson Base
March 2012
6
notice to aLL readers
Views and opinions expressed in
News Review articles are those
of the authors and not necessarily the official position of
Local 587
Letters/contributions must include printed names, signatures, work ID numbers, ad-dresses and phone numbers that can be verified during working hours. Letters that cannot be validated will not be published. All articles/letters are subject to editing and should be limited to 1000 words or less. Not all letters can be published due to space limitations. Cut off is the 15th of each month. Any submission from a member of Local 587 to the News Review deemed unprintable by the Recording Secretary shall be forwarded to the Executive Board for final decision to publish. Send letters to:
Judy youngNews Review Editor
c/o ATU Local 587 2815 Second Avenue, Suite 230
Seattle, WA 98121
send in your opinions
Letters to the Editor…Shoes made in
ChinaPer the Labor Agreement be-
tween A.T.U. Local #587 and King County Metro, Article 15, Section 13, Paragraph G: “All uniform items will be union made, unless mutu-ally agreed between the PARTIES.”
King County recently changed its shoe vendor for Metro operators from Blumenthal Uniforms to Red Wing Shoes. With just one exception, all shoes now authorized for us are made in Communist China. That exception, a low shoe providing no ankle support, is assembled in the U.S.A. of imported components. Red
with to help balance the budget? No.
Is this another small step by King County toward undermining the authority of our union in the inter-est of “patriotism”?
And why did our union agree to it?
Dick Ellingson#20502
Atlantic Base
Thanks from a Metro Rider
February 8, 2012
Dear Metro:
I just wanted to express my thankfulness for the above and beyond service I have received from so many Metro employees. I think that it reflects both a truly quality team of public servants and an or-ganizational mindset of promoting reliable, detail-observing service that is grounded on kindness and respect.
As a frequent metro rider, I in-teract often with drivers, and it is therefore their work with which I am most impressed. The thing I ap-preciate most about the Metro driv-ers is how consistently considerate
they are. They wait for a customer sprinting across an intersection to catch the last bus of the evening. They jump up to assist a mother with a stroller or a customer with a wheelchair without even a mo-ment’s hesitation and with a cheer-ful attitude. If I have a question about a bus, a schedule, or an area of town, they always patiently share their thorough knowledge with me and make sure I am taken care of. The metro bus drivers are some of the nicest people in Seattle, and I hope that you continue to encourage them to be known for that!
Thank you and I look forward to continuing to be a frequent cus-tomer of King County Metro.
With appreciation,Megan Kennedy
Wing does not state from what coun-try those components are imported.
Communist China is infamous for its repression of trade unions, its forced labor for children and political prisoners, and its absolute disregard for human rights.
Red Wing Shoes admits on its web site to outsourcing almost 40% of its products. Purchasing from such a company for the simple purpose of saving King County quick bucks in the short term does long-term damage to our economy and to the workforce, you and me, here in King County. In fact, this ever-expanding practice harms not only every resident of King County, it steals job security from every American over the long run.
Under the previous shoe con-tract, Blumenthal Uniforms offered Thorogood Boots, stock #834-6906. These boots were Union-Made in the U.S.A. according to Blumenthal and today’s price to King County Metro for a pair of these boots, American-Made and Union-Made, would be in the neighborhood of $120.00. That’s about ten dollars higher than two years ago but still close to the price of the Communist Chinese boots now being forced upon us under King County’s agreement with Red Wing.
Is this really the best plan our county’s leaders could have come up
Ode to the Bus Driver
By Janet Palmer
An unknown assailant got on to the busThe driver who sat there was one of usIn an instant the assailant’s damage was doneWith words, a fist, a knife, or a gun
Now that driver, who is one of usRelives that scene over and over each time they climb in the busWe say time heals all wounds, but here’s the catchThe body mends quickly but the mind never forgets
Yet we all remain steadfast to the job because it paysBut are cautious of standing out or of making wavesBecause we’re susceptible there in the seatOf beating it all—or getting beat
Trying to make the best of the situation at hand When we’re up against the public may seem like Custer’s Last StandWell, good thing we’re sitting I think out loudWe’re doing our best and we’ll do ourselves proud
We’ll have great days and bad days and hope for days betterWe’ll drive on and manage to keep it all togetherAnd sooner or later, when we get to retireOur replacement of course will be…one more new hire
Happy St.
Paddy’s Day!
March 17th
March 2012
7
Sometimes it’s like a family at the union meetings and also at the bases, and that’s how it should be. As much as we like to be
self reliant individuals, deep at heart we know we depend on each other in a lot of ways. you know how much the union contract means, when you see how often people grieve it, because it’s one way we maintain some fairness, respect and solidarity at work. The other way is treating each other with kindness, dignity and loyalty, like a family. We stick together to protect that, to protect each other and ourselves. We all go through the same stuff out there and we can all relate and have sympathy, because when it comes to our jobs and what we go through—we ARE like sisters and brothers, and we do stick up for each other—we have to.
Personally I value the feeling and knowledge that when I am out and about in my community, there will always be a brother or sister Local 587 bus driver coming along somewhere nearby. I don’t ever expect to need help, but it comforts me
to know that if I ever did, and I flagged down any fellow operator, they would help! The sense of family and friendship at work means a lot to me.
I find my coworkers to be kind and generous, but I know that sometimes out on the road, the pressures are so great that I myself feel pretty tired of all the little problems and obstacles that come up. So when my leader is late or I’m over-whelmed and my follower is skating behind me empty, or someone cuts me off, I can get pretty irritated. The other day a driver cut me off on Third, running through a very yellow light and squeezing past me in the right lane before I could get back over to it—and we were using the same stops. They just wanted to muscle ahead of me! I looked to see who it was. “If that jerk ever complains in the bull pen about getting cut off, I’m going to remember this!” I thought to myself. I looked over—it was a good friend, someone I wouldn’t think of saying an unkind word to, even if they did drive badly. That brought me up short. I should treat everyone that respectfully, I
Operators Stick Together Like Family Out on the Road
realized. If it hadn’t been a friend, would I have yelled at them?
The schedule pressures should not get the best of us! Some drivers rarely have to use the rest room or eat. I know because I qualified with some of them and I was amazed. And I suppose it’s easy for them to get impatient with those of us who do. But we all need to be patient, because, believe me, some drivers have health problems most of us have never even heard of. Plus we all have different metabolisms and our needs can vary quite radically. And our bodies change. Someone who could work all day non-stop ten years ago might now have to eat regularly, test their blood sugar, take medication with food, have chronic bowel or enlarged prostate or be pregnant. All of these quite common conditions require one thing: TAKING TIME AT THE END OF THE LINE WHETHER yOU ARE LATE OR NOT.
If you don’t have these issues, if your bladder is the size of an oil tanker, be glad! But also stick up for your fellow less-perfect operators. If your leader isn’t leaving on time but is sitting there eating—well, they have the basic human right to do that. Don’t go yell at them! We can’t let Metro’s schedules ruin our health or the health of sister and brother operators. Every one of us should support each other in taking necessary time to drink water, eat food and use the bath-room—what a concept—even when late. If we just never get out of the seat all day, how will Metro know their schedules really don’t work? They are tracking whether we are on time…but they are NOT tracking whether we got to eat a sandwich. We have to actually eat the sandwich before they can really see that the time in the schedule is inadequate.
Please remember to be patient and to support each others’ right to use the bathroom at every terminal if that’s what they need. So your leader is late and she’s using the bathroom again even though she already went at the last terminal. Maybe you don’t have to go again, but you aren’t her. you would not really wish on her driving a whole trip while needing to pee, would you? Of course not! The schedule should allow using a bathroom at each end! If using the bathroom is making your leader late and holding you up, don’t yell at her—yell at the County, fill out an OSFR.
The other day I felt sleepy, so I got a cup of coffee, even though I knew it would make me have to inconvenience everyone with a mid-route bathroom stop. When I did stop, my follower couldn’t access the zone I was in. I felt a little sorry, but it wasn’t going to keep me from doing what I had to do!
I appreciate that the drivers I relieve have usually been on time. you know, they really try hard to do that for me. We are all trying out there, and it helps to notice when other drivers go the extra effort for each other—and that hap-pens a lot. When someone gets to my relief point late though, I always tell them not to apologize, no worries, and no need to explain. If they are running late, they had their reasons, and they have already suffered for it enough by picking up extra people and getting yelled at by pas-sengers. They don’t need me, a fellow driver, to be the final straw in a bad day. And they might really feel better if I end their shift with a kind word and a smile.
If we are going to have any dignity in this job at all, WE are going to have to create that dignity among ourselves, for ourselves, and for each other. That is one thing WE can control, that is one way WE can be a family.
By Linda Anderson, E-Board & Public Relations Committee
March 2012
8
The Scoop on the Flex/ID Passes
Vice President Sepolen’s ReportBy Rick Sepolen
There has been a great deal of teeth gnash-ing and rumor mongering about the new Flex/ID passes. Perhaps a bit of the truth
would be helpful at this stage.• Distribution of the passes to King County
employees is planned for June 4, 2012• The pass will be used for both building
access as well as for use on transit• Passes will be distributed to active em-
ployees only (Sorry retirees)• These Flex/ID passes will be ‘tap’ not
‘flash’ cards
continued on page 9
Overall transit funding in the cur-rent proposal is insufficient.
A 21st century economy demands more transit. Today, transit carries 40% of workers into downtown Seattle, 25% to downtown Bellevue and ridership across the state continues to grow. In order to retain and recruit employees and meet the growing needs of a healthy economy, we must ensure transit service can grow to accommodate this rising demand with predictable funding. Since the elimination of the statewide Motor Vehicle Excise Tax in 2000, the state has offered little support for transit. Transit accounts for less than 1% of state transportation budgets for most of these last twelve years. The public expects—and supports, as identified by the latest Washington Transportation Commission’s public survey—a trans-portation funding proposal that serves the growing need for transit that is criti-cal to building a 21st century economy.
The inclusion of local funding au-thority for transit is a major step forward to help us meet the transit demand in our economic centers. We must ensure that local funding authority is viable for transit agencies—not just cities and counties—across the state. We believe the proposal should include a menu of options that would allow local govern-ments and citizens to decide what is best for their communities.
And while local options are impor-tant, for this transportation proposal to be balanced, there needs to be additional and meaningful state investments in transit. Specifically, money that is multi-modal (that is not currently limited by 18th amendment restrictions, such as oil barrel fees or vehicle weight fees) should be used for multi-modal projects and not be dedicated for 18th amendment eligible projects. Further, transit agencies need a predictable and long-term funding solution; they will likely be unable to restore service hours if they are only given short-term grant opportunities.
Fix it firstThe Governor’s proposal goes a long
way to close the multi-billion dollar
backlog in basic maintenance on our roads and bridges and includes support for the operations of our ferry system; our ability to preserve our existing transportation system will be critical to our economic recovery. We are pleased that the proposal is consistent with the Connecting Washington Task Force’s principle that additional transportation funding for roads should be prioritized and primarily dedicated to maintenance of the existing system. We are concerned that this proposal will still require the elimination of a few ferry routes, however. In addition, we believe that expansion of the existing highway sys-tem should be limited and kept within state plans for strategic investments.
Help meet local transportation needs
Past statewide transportation pack-ages have not adequately addressed city and county infrastructure needs. While the small portion for cities and counties in the current proposal is appreciated, it does not come close to allowing lo-cal governments to catch up on their maintenance backlogs. In addition to a meaningful amount of direct state support, any transportation package needs to give local governments more simple-majority councilmatic authority from a flexible menu of options to raise revenue beyond the improvements to Transportation Benefit Districts. This authority would help local government not just meet maintenance backlogs but also make local transportation investments necessary to support more urbanized livable communities and higher transit ridership. Furthermore, the state should provide local jurisdic-tions with the freedom to determine for themselves how to address their local transportation needs.
We encourage increasing the funding for existing statewide grant programs, including TIB, CRAB and the Complete Streets/Main Streets, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, and the Safe Routes to School grant programs and creating a new grant program to reward cities for facilitating equitable and sustainable communities. Doing this would help cities and counties better meet ADA requirements, expensive bridge rehabili-
President’s Report, continuedtation projects and create safer streets around schools, business districts, senior centers and other areas where safety is paramount.
Building livable communities & investing in infrastructure that protects our waterways
Polluted stormwater runoff is the single largest source of pollution in Washington. To protect and restore Puget Sound and rivers and streams across the state, we must prevent pol-luted runoff from entering our waters by retrofitting our existing roads and stormwater systems. Meaningful in-vestment in stormwater retrofits must be included in any new transportation package. The initial proposal is a step in the right direction, as it includes some stormwater investments, but the current funding level is not commensurate with the scale of the problem. In regards to the barrel fee, the direct nexus between oil and its impacts should be reflected in the funding level for stormwater retrofits. Resolution of this funding need will be critical to garnering broad agreement for this and any future transportation package.
Clearly there are significant needs for repairs and improvements to our state’s transportation system. We support the effort and acknowledge the hard work that has gone into crafting a proposal that can meet the maintenance needs in our system, meet the growing transit demand and gets our economy moving again. To pass any revenue measure will be incredibly difficult in this economic climate and will require support from many different interests and com-munity stakeholders. This is why the proposal must be balanced, attuned to environmental impacts, and reflect the transportation reality of Washington today—one that encompasses all modes of travel.
Sincerely,
Rob JohnsonExecutive Director, Transportation Choices Coalition
Hilary FranzExecutive Director, Futurewise
Chuck AyersExecutive Director, Cascade Bicycle Club
Paul BachtelPresident, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587
Barbara CulpExecutive Director, Bicycle Alliance of Washington
Conor McleanPresident, Associated Students of the University of Washington
Charles PlummerPresident, UW Graduate and Profes-sional Student Senate
Joan CrooksExecutive Director, Washington Envi-ronmental Council
Brendon ChechovicExecutive Director, Washington Con-servation Voters
Tim GouldTransportation and Land Use Commit-tee Chair, WA State Chapter Sierra Club
Lisa QuinnExecutive Director, Feet First
Kristina WalkerManager, Tacoma Downtown On the Go”
As the legislative process moves
forward, Local 587 will continue to advocate for long-term stable fund-ing for transit on both federal and state levels. Hopefully, our efforts will prove successful in gaining federal and/or state funding as well as local funding options. If we only gain local funding options, we’ll be right back where we were last year in lobbying for the Congestion Reduc-tion Charge in seeking passage of whatever local funding options the state legislature authorizes.
Please don’t confuse our union
position with that of King County. King County is comprised of many divisions, not just King County Metro Transit. Harold Taniguchi, Director of the Department of Transportation, is seeking fund-ing for all of the divisions within his jurisdiction and some of those
Transit agencies where the passes can be used are:
• Community Transit• Pierce Transit• Sound Transit
» LINK Light Rail » Sounder » ST buses
• Accessible Services• The Water Taxi• Kitsap (new)• Everett (new)
Part of the reason for the delay in pro-viding employees with the new passes was the County’s decision to include the ID and building access features to the card.
March 2012
9
The Coming Storm!
Vice President MacAdam’s ReportBy Don MacAdam
your full time officers spend much of their time reading about what’s going on in
other cities and states, as well as our own. We study these things to help guide our decisions on how to make the best choices for Local 587members.
Next month, we will be celebrat-ing 100 years as ATU Local 587. That’s 100 years of blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into pro-viding better working conditions for the tens of thousands who have come and gone from this Union. In the past, after several street car drivers had frozen to death while operating trolleys, the union in 1893 was able to sponsor and get passed the Vestibule Act which required all trolleys to have the front of the trolley enclosed to protect the driver from harsh weather. In days past, the Union started providing a death benefit as some members were so poor their families could not afford a funeral. In 1919, the first 6 day work week & 8 hour work day were established. During the war years, several members went off to war and did not return. When I started in transit, I was trained by a man who had started working at transit when it was a railroad. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IF Metro and the Union cannot find stable funding before the “Car Tab” money runs out or the economy recovers, we may be in the worst situation that this Union has had to face since the great depression of the 1930s. We will be forced to make decisions that we abhor and had never had to make before. We, and our friends, may be laid off by the hundreds. your xxxxxxx decided to deal with some of these difficult questions now so we would not have to make decisions in a “panic mode” later; and, because of this, you also will have an idea of what to do if the difficult times come.
This brings us back the first sentence of this article. We (your full time officers) have noted the mistakes made by other Unions and have decided to bend a little in the storm so that we would not be broken. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. The next big storm (if it comes) will, hopefully, find your Union tougher and more flexible to deal with all that may be thrown our
way. As we seem to be talking about trees and storms, storms appear to be God’s tree pruner which makes the trees roots dig deeper and the tree stronger so that new growth will appear.
Really…what’s going on in Maintenance?
40 Grievances and 6 Arbitrations. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Metro’s research has shown we have never had so many arbitrations at one time before from Mainte-nance. They spent $25,000 to do that study (just kidding) which I was told equates to 4 years work for them (not kidding). We have already done 7 in 2 years, winning two and settling 5. And, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx which surprised me.
SOOOOO why is all this hap-pening? As many of you have seen from the Rumor Mill #7, we have a lot going on all the time.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
H.R. is angry at me and the Rats. V.M. managers are angry at me for bringing up all those pesky past practices. Everyone else seems to be upset about more work, less bodies, & pick & policy changes. Plus, the shenanigans of those crazy Chiefs. Oh yea!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We claimed forfeiture on 2 grievances this February. I also demanded to bargain the T.L.T. policy (yea…that Metro negotiator guy is mad at xxxxxxx…again). Millwrights will go to mediation with a real good attorney. We were told that the new computers will be at N.M. & N.R.V. even though we have not finished negotiations yet. Found out I was in the 700 club at V.M. and did not know it (those who have been hit with 700 volts). V.M. is reviewing all their policies so they are being sent to us for perusal and comment. Rail time clock problems are under discussion. Intrastate C.D.L.: $10.00 fee (now Metro says they will not pay this fee). Pick and committee problems abound. Parts/buyer A.B.T. system has been grieved. Facility issues are getting ready to explode also. And, have I mentioned how grumpy Metro seems to be?
The February 2012 pick was delayed a week. Corrections were made, posted and the pick is over. However, I have complained about the addition of a new designation of “Relief Lead” and, the addition of more “may dispatch” for E.S.W.s is ongoing. Now, the vacation pick is scheduled with our new M.O.A. language from the Jones arbitration which we won.
My thanks to those who contrib-uted to the successful completion of “our duty” to our Union mem-bers by those running the pick. In particular to Board Officers Kermit Gipson & Pat Stevens, plus Andrew Gilmore, Randy Steinman, Michael Paulson, Dan Kenny, Tonja Jackson, Pat Murray & Jason Leczo.
Editor’s Note: “This Article is printed as submitted by 2nd Vice Presi-dent Don MacAdam and pursuant to his request”
WORK SITE VISITSPaul Bachtel, President, and Paul Neil, Financial Secretary,
will be visiting various work sites during the month of March. Below is a list of times, dates and locations.
March 9th Bellevue Vehicle Maintenance 2:00 pm – 2:15 pmFriday Bellevue Operations 2:15 pm – 4:00 pm March 13th East Vehicle Maintenance 2:00 pm – 2:15 pmTuesday East Operations 2:15 pm – 4:00 pm
March 14th North Facilities 5:30 am – 6:30 amWednesday
President’s Report, continued
divisions are suffering far greater budget woes than Metro Transit. Executive Dow Constantine will now no doubt seek funding for all county departments with emphasis on those suffering the most. Local 587 will be advocating solely for long-term stable funding for transit. In the end it may come down to a
battle between roads and transit (as it has in the past) and Local 587 should see to it transit wins the best share of whatever funding is provided and/or authorized.
In solidarity,Paul J. Bachtel, PresidentBusiness Representative
Rare A.M. group photo approx. 2002
March 2012
10
The Financial Secretary’s ReportBy Paul Neil
February 7 Lobby Day Success
On February 7, a bus load of ATU Local 587 members left Atlantic Base yard for Olym-
pia for another successful ATU 587 Lobby Day. your Union brothers & Sisters met with their legislators and urged them to support stable and adequate funding for public transit. No paid lobbyist is as effective as a voter from a legislator’s district.
Two of those members who participated are voters in the 41st. legislative district which is also the district of Rep. Judy Clibborn, Chair of the House Transportation
Committee and they spent some time meeting with her. If we are to receive additional funding to prevent layoffs in 2014, we need the support of Judy Clibborn, a great many other public officials and the people paying the bills the public.
A big thank you to all the mem-bers who volunteered to take unpaid time off work so they could help with this important effort!
January 19–22, I attended a
meeting of the ATU Northwest Conference in Phoenix, AZ. This
a group of 25 ATU locals from all over the western United States and Canada that meets twice a year for educational purposes and to discuss the various issues locals are dealing with. Also attending the confer-ence from local 587 were President Paul Bachtel, 2nd Vice President for Maintenance Don MacAdam and Executive Board Representative for Clallam and Jefferson counties Bob Eash.
International President Larry Hanley, International Executive Vice President Robert Baker, Inter-
national Vice President Bob Hyk-away, International Vice President yvette Salazar and International Representative Dennis Antonellis also attended.
Host local 1433 once again did a great job of hosting the event even though they are in the middle of a major contract fight with Veolia. Unfortunately, most other locals had bad news to share: funding cuts, layoffs and increased assaults.
Financial Secretary’s February 2012 Membership Meeting ReportNew Member
Applications submitted to the ATU International
in January:In the month of January 2011,
we reported 23 new members to the ATU International. Three are at SPT and 20 are at King County METRO. This brings are total ac-tive membership to 4093. This is a decrease of 105 members compared this time last year when we had 4198 active members.
Bills:All financial figures are subject
to the review of the Executive Board. In January total income was $241,414.56 which is an increase of $741.10 or 0.3% compared to last January.
Per Capita payments totaled $57,680.50 for the month which is a decrease of $163.90 or 0.3% over the same period last year.
Other bills for payroll, rent, le-gal, etc totaled $188,014.02 which is an increase of $13,624.66 or 7.8% over last January. The increase in
expenses is attributable to we are now paying rent, we made a de-posit of $3200.00 on the redesign of the web site and 5700 was paid to the post off for our permits as a preparation for the election. This amounts to a deficit of $4,279.96 for the month compared to a surplus of $8,439.70 for January 2011.
My activities for the month:
Went on 5 base visits with the President at SLU, LINK, CSC, S.
Maintenance and SPT. I attended the Northwest
Conference and was elected the Financial Secretary for that group.
Attended the Operator of the year luncheon with the other offi-cers. Dow Constantine said so very nice things about ATU Local 587.
We now have a new phone sys-tem which will enable us to save voice mails on our computers and keep a log of all call both in and out going.
The move-up packets that had been given out are over ten years old. Different shop
stewards run move-ups differ-ently. Members wouldn’t know what rules would be followed from base to base, shake-up to shake-up. Joshua Laff and I started rewriting the instructions and reworking the forms (with most of the talent being Josh’s). Recently, Darian Spence and I edited most of them and wrote new instructions for the new Extra Board line move-up as per the lat-est contract (again most of the good ideas were not mine).
The new forms and instructions are downloadable from the ATU587 website (under membership, forms).
Anyone can look up the rules for move-ups. Some people, including recent chief shop stewards, don’t know that every base, during ev-ery shake-up, is required to have at least one PTO Move-Up. More can be held, with the permission of management. There is always open work left over after each PTO Pick. The same is not true for FTOs. If no FTO leaves a base during a shake-up, there is no need for a FTO move-up.
We hope that these standardized forms and rules make it better for our members. Take a look at the instructions. It will be worth it, if not for the sake of this article but for the sake of your own piece of mind.
Transit Operator Move-Ups
By Bruce Tiebout
Take a look at the instructions. It will be worth it…
First Day of Spring!
March 20th
March 2012
11
The Recording Secretary’s ReportBy Judy Young
Keeping Up with Today’s Technology is Just the Cost of
Doing Business.
To: All Members of Local 587From: Recording Secretary Judy Young
To: All Members of Local 587From: Recording Secretary Judy Young
Technology is fundamental to business, including the business of our Union. Tech-
nology plays a vital role in how we maximize our office productivity through the use of security systems, computers, and computer networks, as well as advanced software, phone systems, copiers, and other net-worked office equipment. Whether it’s a simple database program that tracks names and inventory or a complex network that links people and places around the globe, tech-nology helps us to organize and maintain a competitive edge. While today’s technology can prove to be pricey, it’s a necessary expense. It’s the cost of doing business in an era of internet service delivery.
I recently put forth a request to the membership allowing ATU 587 to redesign and update our website, and I applaud you for approving this request. Accessibility to the World Wide Web is paramount to the survival and continued growth of our Local. The hard reality is, we can lead, maintain, or fall way
behind. We’ve already made huge strides and look forward to contin-ued growth through technological advancements. With the members› go-ahead; we have an opportunity to set the standard amongst ATU locals for providing information, communication, and member ser-vice via our website.
The difference between a good website and a great one largely depends on the site content, layout, and navigation. When accessibility of critical information on the web-site is not made simple for members they may become frustrated and thus unlikely to return to it or use it to its full capacity. There’s nothing more irritating than searching for something that is right under your nose. With these new improvements, those irritations will become a prob-lem of the past. Some of the things you can expect to see are:
• Bringing the website design, nav-
igation structure, and program-ming up to current-day standards (CSS3, HTMLS, W3C compliant,
larger screen resolutions, new browser compatibility, etc.)
• Redesigning of the site navigation to improve the user experience and the ability to locate needed information.
• Installed current-day content management system to improve 587›s ability to update site content internally, while retaining design standards. Specially redesign and improve the News, Events post-ings, and displayed information organization.
• Develop and install a semi-secure log-on solution for accessing “Di-visions” data.
• Standard search engine optimi-zation methodology on home and interior pages (custom home page optimization and global SEO on interior pages).
• Installed website analytic track-ing tools (Google Analytics to track site activity and usage).
• Install Google Sitemap (improves search engines’ ability to analyze and rank the website )
• W3C Compliance testing as well as limited testing and support for mobile device display.While ATU International has
generously extended an offer to provide website service for free, I would caution the sole use of this
service for our particular Local. One of the biggest problems encountered with free web hosting is that you lose a significant amount of say in the content, layout, and navigation. While I believe our International’s intentions are genuine, 587’s tech-nological requirements are greater than most ATU Locals. More specifi-cally, our individual classifications, divisions, and properties have needs that are unique in their respective areas.
There’s a need to make certain Local 587 has a safe and secure website for you. We take member›s confidentiality seriously, and when you turn the control over to another entity, you compromise that privacy. We’re not interested in opening the membership up to data miners or e-mail swapping lists.
Please keep in mind that we are redesigning one of our biggest tech-nological assets, and this takes time. When you are browsing through the 587 website for information over the coming weeks you may occasionally find something inaccessible, we’re more than likely reconstructing that particular page and there should be a reminder there indicating such. Remember, our Union (Business) is improving, and your patience is appreciated.
March 2012
12
Here’s a disturbing picture: $2 billion is the cost to restore public transit in
Washington state to the pre-reces-sion levels of 2008. yet as the News Review goes to press the Legislature has failed to propose raising even a fraction of that amount. Meanwhile, transit ridership is projected to soar 90 percent in the next 40 years.
Long story short: as transit needs expand, service is shrinking. Pierce transit cut service 35 percent in 2011. Community Transit is downsizing by 37 percent. Metro has hiked bus fares 80 percent in 4 years. Now, management is planning 20 percent cuts if King County can’t find money to replace the $20 CRC tax, so Pres. Paul Bachtel reported to members.
Other vital services are hurting too, including Basic Health, schools, higher education and Disability Lifeline, to name a few. A major source of Washington’s budget woes is the regressive nature of its tax structure. It’s the most regressive system in the U.S. A key feature is its heavy reliance on sales taxes.
For public transit, 73 percent of funding comes from sales tax. yet this tax hits poor people far more than the wealthy. It’s also highly unstable. When the economy nose-dives so does revenue. Washing-ton’s tax structure is worsened by
hundreds of “business incentive” tax exemptions that favor the rich and big corporations like Boeing, Costco and Bank of America. Many luxury services are not taxed. In another example, Microsoft gets an exemption from paying the B&O tax on royalty sales of software licenses — at huge cost to the state. Revoking all B&O tax “business incentive” exemptions would save $500 million per year.
The net effect of all this is that the bottom 20 percent are taxed at 17 percent of income, and the top one percent are taxed at 2.6 per-cent of income. The facts I’ve cited are primarily from two sources: Governor Gregoire’s “Connecting Washington” Task Force Report on Transportation Funding, and mate-rial compiled by Sisters Organize for Survival, a grassroots campaign of Radical Women to “flip the funding” priorities of Washington’s budget.
As of February 15, one of the main proposals to fill the $2 billion budget gap is a sales taxe hike. Both Democrats and Republicans claim their options are limited by Tim Eyman’s I-1053, that requires a two-thirds legislative majority to raise taxes. They conveniently ignore that closing loopholes and eliminating exemptions isn’t a tax hike, but a standardization of existing rates.
But instead of angering their rich contributors, both parties plan to send the sales tax to the ballot, forcing voters to “choose” between service cuts and regressive taxes. This is a case of lose-lose for work-ing class and poor voters. And if the tax passes, it repairs only a fraction of the $10 billion in cuts seen since 2008. As Sisters Organize for Sur-vival states: “Resorting to a sales tax increase one more time just puts off the task of fixing Washington’s unfair, broken tax system.”
SOS is not alone in calling for an overhaul of the state’s tax structure. Pressure is building within orga-nized labor. And the leadership is coming from unions on the front lines of the mess. Several locals of Washington Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (WFSE and AFSCME) passed a reso-lution calling on their state leader-ship to “take a firm stance AGAINST a regressive sales tax and instead STAND UP for elimination of the tax loopholes allowing the 1% and corporations in Washington to not pay their fair share.” The resolution calls for WFSE to lobby for “equita-ble and sustainable solutions to our unjust tax system and not support whatever regressive take-aways the legislature tosses our way.” Mean-while, the Washington Education
Association is not supporting the sales tax hike proposal, and is call-ing for equitable tax solutions that don’t put the biggest burden on the poorest people.
By all rights, ATU should be part of this growing movement. Wealthy corporations contribute little in taxes to public transit, even as agencies get their employees to work every day. A big share of the financing burden for transit has been passed on to minimum wage workers, the unemployed, and other low-income folks who pay sales taxes and skyrocketing bus fares. This is wrong. It also puts transit operators at higher risk of assault by making us “curbside tax collec-tors,” as our ATU International has observed.
It is in ATU’s interest to oppose this regressive scheme and put forth real solutions to the state and transit budget crises. One way to do that is by getting involved in the growing labor-community coalitions that are raising demands in Olympia. Sisters Organize for Survival, Oc-cupy Olympia, the state workers unions and teachers are just a few of the active groups. Let’s join them and grow the numbers of those who are demanding change.
Transit’s funding crisis worsened by state’s tax structure
By Linda Averill, 8816, Ryerson Base
March is roaring in like a lion… and with it comes the official start of the 2012
election season.your Election Committee present-
ed a slide show at each of the Febru-ary meetings about the nomination process and handed out candidate packets. So far, more than 34 mem-bers have taken candidate packets and expressed interest in becoming candidates.
The March 7th nomination dead-line is approaching fast. This is the date of the last membership meeting where a member can self-nominate or be nominated by another mem-ber to become a candidate. Those of you who want to participate in the nomination process must know a few important facts. All nominees must be members in good standing with the Union, which means they are cur-rent with all dues and assessments. Nominees must also have at least two years of membership in the Union to be eligible to run for office. Those who choose to nominate another member for office must also be in good standing, but are not required to have two years membership.
In addition to floor nominations during the March cycle of meetings, members can also submit nomina-tions in writing. Written nomina-tions must be sent to the Recording Secretary at the Union Office and must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 1st. Written
nominations can be faxed, mailed, or dropped off in person at the Union Office. They must include the nomi-nee’s signature, intended position, and contact information. Because we need your signature, emails alone will not suffice. Members can nominate themselves in writing, or they can be nominated by another member. If you are nominated by another member in writing, you must also send in, in writing, your acceptance of the nomination, with your signature or the nomination will not be valid.
After 5:00 p.m. on March 1st, the only way a member can be nominated is in person at one of the March meetings. Members can nominate themselves from the floor. Members can also be nominated by another member in good standing. However, if a member is nominated by someone else, s/he must be present at the same meeting to accept the nomination, or the nomination will not be valid.
It is very important for all nominees to obtain a candidate packet. This packet contains information for candidates about the election rules. It also explains how to submit infor-mation for the Voters’ Pamphlet and how to send direct mail campaign literature to the membership. you can obtain a packet by calling the Union office and asking for one. You can also download it from the Union web site.
your Election Committee will be busy in the days following the close
of the nominations. We will be con-firming and notifying all candidates of their eligibility. We will be setting up election boards and tables at many of the worksites for candidates to post campaign material. We will publish and mail the Voters’ Pamphlet of all candidates which will be sent to all members. We will also oversee the mailing of the ballots by TrueBallot, Inc., for the Primary Election. The ballots will be sent out during the week of March 26th.
A final reminder to all members: Tuesday, March 6th is the Date of Re-cord for the Primary Election. This means that this is the cut-off date for
the list of all eligible members to vote in the Primary and the ballots will be mailed to the addresses the Union has on file as of this date. It is very important for members to be sure that your employer has a current/good address on file. Change of address forms can be obtained from Metro bases.
We look forward to seeing you at the nomination meetings in March!
In solidarity,Your 2012 Election CommitteeAlana Sorem, chairTeri AllenHeather RaleighPaul Tefft
Important Election Dates in March:
March 1 – Last day for receipt of written nominations due to the Recording Secretary by 5:00 p.m.
March 1 to March 7 – Nominations accepted from the floor of the March membership meetings.
March 7 – Last Nomination meeting is 3:30 PM March 7th.
March 6 – Date of Record for the Primary Election.
March 8 – Election Boards and table will be set up at designated work sites for candidates’ campaign literature.
March 9 – Last date for candidate submission for the Voter’s Pamphlet.
March 27 – Primary Election ballots mailed.
The Election is Coming! The Election is Coming!Submitted by Your 2012 Election Committee
