Outsourcing To A Non-Union Workforce is Unacceptable
Fight Back in ATU Local 1005
Consensus can seem like a nice thing. Most people agree it’s good to get along. From the perspective of the workplace, getting along with our coworkers definitely makes life easier and the workday passes faster. However, from our perspective, when the Met Council and management go-along-to-get-along, transit workers lose. All too commonly, the Governor-appointed Met Council is unaccountable to the needs of transit workers and the public.
Management Outsourcing Our Work to a Non-Union Workforce is Unacceptable
In the most recent example, the Met Council has awarded a $7.7 million contract to a non-union Florida company for rust maintenance on light rail cars with an 8–5 vote at their December meeting. The contract could total as much as $12 million funded by Minnesota taxpayer money, shipping the cars to Louisiana, right-to-work states where workers are paid less and don’t have the strong bargaining rights that give us the negotiating position we experience here. Although the vote passed in the end, the only reason there was any debate on the Met Council at all is because light rail workers and ATU members dug into the details, mobilized, and exposed the Met Council’s anti-worker proposal.
Metro Transit management, with the backing of the unelected Met Council, has tried to throw it back on ATU Local 1005 that 41 maintenance positions remain unfilled as a reason for the outsourcing. However, the safety of our workforce and the public are our highest priorities. Our members called attention to racial biases in the qualifications test, and have correctly escalated to having the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission investigate. Instead of speedily fixing the test, management dragged their feet. ATU leadership approached management several times on the racial biases in the test (evidenced by people of color union members passing the mechanics test at much lower rates than their white counterparts, having approached the test with the same qualifications). Hiring must resume only when the test is fixed of these racial biases.
The Met Council has signed economic equity inclusion agreements, racial equity inclusion agreements, which are all just ink on paper when they show their true commitment to outsourcing union jobs to non-union companies out-of-state when our members in Minnesota can do the work. Essentially, this is management’s refusal to pay for the wages and benefits we’ve bargained for. This highlights that our union is strongest when we live up to the slogan: an injury to one is an injury to all.
What’s really at stake with outsourcing to non-union employers?
The worst examples are when management hires poorly trained scabs to break a strike. In the recent John Deere strike, the company made accident reports confidential when there were so many workplace accidents by poorly trained supervisors and scabs the company assumed it would hurt their brand. Kelloggs workers went on strike to fight a two-tier wage system and tragically couldn’t overcome a deal that weakened this language even further. However, while on strike, Kelloggs tried to slyly remove their logo from grocery store products like Poptarts because consumers took to social media to document reduced quality in their products. Similar stories come alongside outsourcing. The company hopes to get around the contract to further squeeze a workforce fatigued by trying to survive on lesser wages and little to no benefits.
One strike won’t defeat outsourcing in our global supply chains. However, as workers, we’ve significant leverage to stand against the divide and rule characterizing this pandemic moment. The December Met Council vote didn’t go as we wanted this time, but the fight is not over.
Take Action to Make Our Voices Heard
Over the past year, we negotiated a strong contract that included significantly improved safety language. Now, we’re demanding retention pay that exists in other ATU contracts across the country. In another maneuver, the Met Council wants to institute signing bonuses of $4,000 to new employees, after throwing us a $500 signing bonus but refusing to negotiate on hazard pay for those who worked during the pandemic. Unacceptable. Get involved with the Action Committee to help circulate a petition to demand retention pay, double down on the hazard pay those who worked through the pandemic deserve, and mobilize to upcoming actions to take the fight to management. Our best defense against outsourcing and concessionary contracts is an active membership, prepared to organize, fight, and take action on the issues facing our workers, the broader community, and the wider working-class. Solidarity in struggle, in 2022. — Ryan Timlin
