Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)

By Steve Zeltser - CounterPunch, September 13, 2016

When do unions call in the National Guard to protect workers? It happened this past week in North Dakota where Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of nearly 200 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada brought 4,000 mostly Native people from throughout the United States to stop the desecration of their ancestor graves and the threat to their water resources by Dakota Access LLC. Dakota Access LLC is building a $3.8 billion dollar pipeline that would take 500,000 barrels a day through their lands on the way to Chicago. It is being built with 3,000 unionized operating engineers, plumbers, laborers and teamsters along the 1200 mile route. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe saw their ancestors burial grounds being desecrated and were concerned that their water supply would be contaminated in any possible spill going into the Missouri river which runs close to the pipeline.

The company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) which controls Dakota Access LLC  is owned by Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren. During Hurricane Warren through ETP stockpiled gas to gouge on prices after the hurricane passed and had to pay a $10 million fine for illegal manipulation of the energy industry.

The reaction by the unions to the growing protest was that there needed to be protection for their members so they could do their jobs. Glen Johnson, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers IUOE, said the unions had asked to meet with North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple to” find out what the state intends to do about protesters causing workers to fear for their lives.”

Terry O’Sullivan, general president of LIUNA who makes over $663,000 a year had previously lauded the project “The men and women of LIUNA applaud the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its fair and thorough review of the Dakota Access Pipeline. … For the highly skilled and trained men and women of LIUNA, projects like the Dakota Access are more than just pipelines. They are crucial lifelines to family-supporting jobs,”

IUOE leader Johnson said that the governor might have to ” call out the National Guard, “so we can get through this volatile area. It’s appalling what’s going on.”

“Why isn’t the state protecting these workers from people throwing rocks, chasing them and wearing masks? If they’re not going to do anything and the company has to hire protective security and there are dogs out there, if they get bit, or whatever, hey, reality is reality,” he said. “Unions have supported peaceful protest, and we do it ourselves. When it’s violent, is when the law needs to step in — what, are we all supposed to be vigilantes and take the law into our hands?”

According to reporter Lauren Donovan of the Bismarck Tribune, the National Guard have already been deployed last week and was being used on Highway 1806 to shutdown the road with an information point. Some people were arrested and the action freed up the local police for other duties.

Native American activist Winona Laduke, who was a former Green Party vice presidential candidate, was clear about where the piping should be going. In an interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, Laduke said “Flint, Michigan, has a problem. That’s why everything is eroding in this country. And what we need is those skilled laborers to be put to work, pipelines for people. I’m saying take those pipes that are sitting there in northern Minnesota, and send them to Flint, Michigan.”

Johnson’s support for the use of trained dogs who bit dozens of people including children and even a pregnant women. The frenzy was so wild that some of the dogs were even biting each other. This  raises the question about who Johnson is really representing. The use of dogs to bite civil rights protesters fighting segregation and racism in the south is notorious in US history and his open support for the use of these attack dogs by private security forces raises the question of what some unions would do to “protect” their jobs.

While these same unions and the AFL-CIO refuse to call for an end to the trillions of dollars that the US is spending on 700 bases overseas and at war and spending that money on the direly needed infrastructure in the US they are quite happy to support the use of the National Guard and attack dogs to protect their jobs.

Other unions spoke out in support of the Native peoples and against the threat to their lands. Larry Hanley the president of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union ATU issued a statement condemning the attacks on Standing Rock Sioux and Opposes Dakota Access Pipeline.

“The Amalgamated Transit Union joins others in the Labor movement in condemnation of the ongoing violent attacks on the Standing Rock Sioux and others who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. These attacks by a private security company bring back horrific memories of the notorious Pinkertons, who used clubs, dogs and bullets to break up peaceful worker protests.

“Union members understand that today the greatest threat to jobs, health and decent living standards is climate change. We support the National Day of Action on September 13th, and we urge President Obama to stop construction of this destructive pipeline and keep dangerous fossil fuels in the ground.”

This capitulation to business interests and their agenda for “jobs” of course is not new for the history of business unionism in the US. In Oakland, the California Teamsters Union supported the development of shipping coal into the Port Oakland despite the health and safety dangers particularly in the African American and Latino communities. The ILWU which works the ship and the Alameda Labor Council opposed the coal port and they were successful in stopping it.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, September 13, 2016

The following unions have issued statements in solidarity with those opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline; we will add additional unions to this list as we become aware of their having taken a similar stand:

1. IWW - September 3, 2016
2. Border Agricultural Workers - September 7, 2016
3. Amalgamated Transport Union - September 9, 2016
4. Communications Workers of America - September 9, 2016
5. National Nurses United - September 9, 2016
6. ILWU Local 19 - September 12, 2016
7. United Electrical Workers - September 12, 2016

(This may not be a complete list, but we will endeavor to correct any oversights as we find them. If you know of additional unions who have joined this list, please contact us at euc@iww.org.)

On the other hand, some unions insist on staying on the wrong side of history:

• Unions want governor to ensure safety - By Lauren Donovan, Bismark Tribune, September 7, 2016

Dakota Access Pipeline Halted (or was it?):

• Joint Statement from the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior Regarding Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice, September 9, 2016; [related]: In Victory For Protesters, Obama Administration Halts North Dakota Pipeline - By Amy Sisk, NPR, September 10, 2016 | Tribes Win One Fight, Lose Another In Pipeline Protest - By Amy Sisk, Inside Energy, September 10, 2016 | After protests, U.S. halts North Dakota pipeline near tribal lands - By Ruthy Munoz and Dave Thompson, Reuters, September 9, 2016 | As The Court Sided With A Controversial Oil Pipeline, The Government Called For A Construction Pause – By Alejandro Dávila Fragoso, Think Progress, September 9, 2016 | Dakota Access Pipeline Stopped by Obama Administration After Army Reserves Called In - By staff, Counter Current News, September 9, 2016 | Federal Government Halts Work on Part of Pipeline Project - By Dave Kolpack and James MacPherson, ABC News, September 9, 2016  | Judge allows Dakota pipeline to move ahead - By Associated Press, FuelFix, September 9, 2016 | Obama administration intervenes in Dakota pipeline project opposed by Standing Rock Sioux, halts construction - By Jorge Barrera, APTN, September 9, 2016 | Obama administration orders ND pipeline construction to stop - By Devin Henry, The Hill, September 9, 2016 | Tribes Prevail In North Dakota Pipeline Fight—For Now - By Stephanie Joyce, Wyoming Public Radio and Amy Sisk, Inside Energy, September 9, 2016 | US Government Steps In After Judge Rules Against Standing Rock Sioux - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, September 9, 2016
• Pipeline Fighters React to Obama Administration’s Call for Construction Halt on Dakota Access Pipeline at Key Areas Near Sacred Stone Camp That Threaten Water, Sacred Sites - By Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, September 9, 2016 [related]:  Bold’s Jane Kleeb and Standing Rock Tribe Chair Dave Archambault on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” to Discuss Pres. Obama Order to Halt Dakota Access Pipeline Construction - By Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, September 10, 2016 | Erased By False Victory: Obama Hasn’t Stopped DAPL - By Kelly Hayes, Transformative Spaces, September 10, 2016; | Lakota Strong Heart Warrior Society Statement on Dakota Access Pipeline Injunction Decision and Nationhood - By Canupa Gluha Mani, Cante Tenza Okolakiciye, September 9, 2016 | Mixed Reactions as Feds Give Standing Rock Sioux Partial Victory - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, September 9, 2016 | Standing Rock Sioux Win a major Battle in the War Against Capital - By Richard Mellor, Facts For Working People, September 10, 2016
• Judgement Day for North Dakota’s Water Protectors - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, September 9, 2016
• The Legal Case for Blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline - By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, September 9, 2016
• Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance: Stay in the Game. We’re Winning - By Gyasi Ross, Indian Country Today, September 7, 2016
• Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's Lawyer: Judge's Ruling Allows Dakota Access to "Desecrate" Sacred Ground - Stephanie Tsosie interviewed by Juan González and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, September 7, 2016
• Judge Brokers Temporary Halt In Dakota Access Construction - By Amy Sisk, Inside Energy, September 6, 2016; [related]: Company agrees to temporarily halt some North Dakota pipeline work - By Julia Harte, Reuters, September 7, 2016 | Destruction of Sacred Burial Grounds Prompts Federal Judge to Protect Some Tribal Sites from Dakota Access Pipeline - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, September 6, 2016 | Tribes Secure Limited Victory with Partial Halt on Dakota Pipeline - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, September 6, 2016 | Judge grants partial stop on North Dakota pipeline work - By Associated Press, FuelFix, September 6, 2016 | Judge Hauls Dakota Access Into Court After Sacred Sites Bulldozed, Dogs Unleashed on Tribe Members - By John Zangas, DC Media Group, September 5, 2016

Amy Goodman Targeted:

• Arrest Warrant Issued for Amy Goodman in North Dakota After Covering Pipeline Protest – By RL Miller, Democracy Now!, September 10, 2016; [related]: Arrest Warrant Issued For Journalist Amy Goodman After Covering Dakota Access Pipeline Protests – By Laurel Raymond, Think Progress, September 11, 2016 | Arrest Warrant Issued For Amy Goodman of Democracy Now After Her Kick-Ass Reporting on Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) - By Emerson Urry, EnviroNews, September 10, 2016

Jill Stein Arrested:

• Jill Stein Charged With Criminal Trespass At Dakota Access Protest - By Amy Sisk, Inside Energy, September 7, 2016; [related]: Arrest warrants issued for Jill Stein, running mate after N.D. protest - By Eliza Collins, USA Today, September 7, 2016 | Jill Stein Spray Paints a Bulldozer and More Protesters Lock Down at #NoDAPL - By Kelly Hayes, Truthout, September 7, 2016 | Charges to be filed against presidential candidate - By Blair Emerson, Bismarck Tribune, September 6, 2016 | The Latest: Charges Planned Against Jill Stein From Protest - By staff, Keloland, September 6, 2016

Tin Soldiers and Nixon's Comin'...

• National Guard on Standby in North Dakota Before Court Ruling on Dakota Access Pipeline - Tara Houska interviewed by Juan González and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, September 9, 2016 [related]: Gov. Dalrymple calls on ND National Guard to assist with Dakota Access Pipeline protest security - By staff, KFYRT NBC TV 5, September 8, 2016 | N.D. Governor To Activate National Guard Ahead Of Friday Pipeline Ruling - By staff, Billings Gazette, September 8, 2016
• North Dakota becomes first US state to legalise use of armed drones by police - By Henry Austin, Independent, September 8, 2016

Men Behind the Curtain:

• Who Is Funding the Dakota Access Pipeline? Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo - Hugh MacMillan interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, September 9, 2016; [related]: Who's Banking on the Dakota Access Pipeline? - By Jo Miles and Hugh MacMillan, Food and Water Watch, September 6, 2016
• Who is the shadowy security company attacking pipeline protestors? - By Meteor Blades, Red, Green, and Blue, September 9, 2016
• ‘The Wild West Of Money In Politics’: Dakota Access Pipeline Builder Spends Millions To Influence Elections - By Kit O'Connell, Mint News Press, September 7, 2016
• Enbridge Spreads Tentacles to Acquire Spectra, Creating 'Pipeline Enemy #1' - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, September 6, 2016
• How the U.S. Government Is Helping Corporations Plunder Native Land - By Stephanie Woodard, In These Times, September 6, 2016

By Erik D. Kojola - Sage Publications, August 20, 2015

Environmental protection is presumed to damper economic growth and media accounts of resource extraction often portray trade-offs between jobs and the environment. However, there is limited evidence that environmental protection universally costs jobs and heavily polluting industries provide few jobs in comparison to environmental impacts.

Therefore, how has media discourse contributed to the taken-for-granted division between the economy and the environment? This paper uses the Keystone XL pipeline controversy as a case of the symbolical conflict between supporters of growth and conservation to explore the role of ideology and power in media discourse.

I use frame analysis of newspaper articles to explore the representations of labor and the environment and how hegemonic ideology legitimizes resource extraction. My analysis reveals binary framing that constructed the pipeline as a political controversy over the trade-off between the environment and the economy, which made conflict between workers and environmentalists sensible, and silenced alternatives.

Read the text (link).

By Paul Le Blanc and Jonah McAllister-Erickson - Socialist Worker, August 5, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The authors of this article are long-time members of Pittsburghers for Public Transit; views expressed here are not necessarily those of the organization as a whole.

SINCE PORT Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) cut 15 percent of its service, residents of Baldwin, Mooncrest and Groveton--working-class suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--had to walk two miles, over roads with no sidewalks, just to catch the bus.

But on September 8, Baldwin residents active in the struggle of "Buses for Baldwin" and Groveton residents who pushed for service in their county housing authority will be riding the first restored buses, celebrating the sweetness of the victory.

The battle for public transit has been often been an uphill struggle under both Democratic and Republican administrations at the city, county, state and federal levels. Lessons from the Pittsburghers for Public Transit (PPT) campaigns might be useful for others struggling for economic justice today and tomorrow.

Amalgamated Transit Union President Larry Hanley has pointed to Pittsburghers for Public Transit as a model for those defending public transit throughout the country, especially for the ways the organization unites transit riders and workers in its campaigns.

Since the 1980s, business interests and the right wing have crusaded for even more aggressive policies of laissez-faire capitalism (sometimes called neoliberalism). Public services--won over the years through struggles by working people--have been the target of late. Their successful efforts have cut funding for public transit systems, public education, public housing, public parks and libraries, the public postal service and more.

This, combined with a push to lower taxes for the rich and stagnant or diminished wages of working people, resulted in a shrinking tax base that often made public services shabby and inadequate. Right-wing ideologues create the problem, then insist that "privatization" and "market mechanisms" are the solution. But this makes things worse--capitalism functions not to meet the needs of the majority of people, but to maximize profits for private business owners.

The Pittsburgh Port Authority, in consultation with an "economizing" Democratic County executive, Dan Onorato, had already made severe cuts in 2007, and in 2010 approved a new 15 percent cut in service. In autumn 2010, Tom Corbett, a conservative Republican candidate promising pro-business tax cuts and budget tightening, ran for governor of Pennsylvania. His Democratic opponent was the very same Allegheny County executive who had twice cut public transit service. The Republican won.

In January 2011, budget proposals by Gov. Corbett projected an additional 35 percent cut in Pittsburgh's transit service. Right-wing elements argued that transit workers had been too greedy, that public transit was inefficient and unsustainable, and that privatization would provide a solution.

By Jenny Brown - Labor Notes, December 3, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Paul Proudlock went to bed at midnight to calibrate his sleep for a freight train he was to drive at 2 p.m. the next day. At 2:15 a.m., a Canadian Pacific dispatcher called him and asked him to take a passenger train in three hours.

“I’m not rested,” Proudlock is heard explaining in a company recording. The dispatcher threatened to discipline him and cancel his 2 p.m. train. “You’re obligated to go. If you answer the phone, you have to go.”

“No, I’m not,” said Proudlock. “I’m obligated to do the safe thing first… I drive a train.”

This kind of pressure is commonplace, according to railroad and airline workers. They say managers push workers to pilot planes, trains, and buses when they are too tired to safely do so. The stakes are high for the workers—and for the general public.

3/4 FELL ASLEEP

In a survey of freight train operators conducted by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, 96 percent said they had gone to work tired. More alarmingly, three-quarters said they fell asleep while working—in the previous month. Among those who, like Proudlock, turned down jobs because of fatigue, 43 percent said they faced investigation or discipline.

“They’ll pressure people… and people don’t know what leg to stand on,” said CSX locomotive engineer J.P. Wright, who is based in Kentucky. “There are so many gray areas in the contract, if you could see a flow chart, it’s like a Merrie Melodies crazy cartoon.”

The railroads claim they don’t push people to work tired. Regulators scolded Canadian Pacific in the Proudlock case.

The main problem with freight railroads, said Wright, is that “they’ve short-staffed everything to the bone.” So when somebody takes time off, others have to unexpectedly fill in, creating cascades of scheduling complexity.

While rest times were increased in a 2008 rewrite of railroad scheduling rules, fatigue problems persist.

And regulations don’t help if the penalties are low, along with the chances of being fined. “I was just told, on a recorded CSX line, that they knew specifically they were violating the rest law but they would just go ahead and pay the fine,” said Wright, who is co-chair of the cross-union caucus Railroad Workers United.

By Jenny Brown - Labor Notes, September 25, 2014

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

Bus workers in Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788 are celebrating a tentative agreement after they called management on outrageous racism.

The workers, who serve St. Louis, including Ferguson, have been trying for over three years to get a new contract with Metro, the bi-state agency that runs the buses. The union said the new contract preserves workers’ defined benefit pension plan, increases wages, and improves health care coverage.

Members are voting today.

Part of the reason the contract took so long, said ATU President Larry Hanley before the agreement, was that “the company is populated by racial arsonists.

“They have economic goals for the agency, and the linchpin of economic goals these days is to strip the workers of pensions and wages,” Hanley explained in early September. “The method that the agency has chosen to use is to separate workers by race and category.”

OREO RECIPE

Most of the drivers are Black, and most of the mechanics are white. So “officials of the agency have been privately negotiating with the mechanics to get them to leave the ATU, telling them they can get them more,” said Hanley. “In other words, ‘If you aren’t part of that Black bus drivers union, we’re going to take care of you.’”

The real motive, of course, was to separate workers into smaller groups so they wouldn’t have the power to stand up to management’s cuts. But management’s strategy was failing, so they stepped it up.

In July management came into bargaining, “and they say, ‘We have a gift for the bargaining committee,’ and they hand each one of them the recipe for Oreo cookies,” recalled Hanley.

The union responded with demonstrations, radio spots, and newspaper ads. When workers leafleted riders at transit centers, Metro tried to ban their leafleting on employer property. Members turned up the heat by demonstrating at the residence of Metro’s CEO, John Nations.