Mass Membership Meeting 2011 - II

TWU Local 100 Mass Membership Meetings, are more obligatory than informative, and they have always been that way. Again, sadly this one was no different. In a contract year, members come to the Mass Membership Meeting to hear about the contract, they want facts and figures - they want exactly what we are asking for from the MTA.  As usual they walked away somewhat empty handed.                

There were no figures, no numbers thrown about. There was however talk about getting a fair and equitable contract, and being financially secure enough to take care of our families. But still, no hard numbers. Some members were visibly disappointed about this lack of information. Others, perhaps those who have been around the block a few times, did not expect any hard numbers. After all, would you go into any negotiation with a publicly broadcast number attached to your notebook?        

The information about our upcoming contract was more ‘thematic’ than ‘dramatic’, more ‘meat and potatoes’ than ‘pie in the sky.’  In many ways the presentation of what the major themes of our upcoming negotiations would be were perhaps a reflection of the man who serves as our President. He is not flashy, dramatic or theatrical. He is however solid, working class and grounded.           

In many ways contract campaigns take the personality of whoever the President of the local is - in the past we have had contract campaigns asking for respect, recognition as professionals etc. The argument could be made that those were reflections of our leadership at the time. This is neither a condemnation nor affirmation, but merely an observation.                

The themes that were revealed to the assembled crowd were solid: Increasing funding streams for mass transit, re-obtaining a no layoff clause, better conditions for all transit workers, ending the second class citizenry of women in transit, an overhaul of the present disciplinary system, better medical coverage, with a special emphasis on our awful dental plan, and of course a wage increase. As usual, a wage increase is always first on our fellow members’ minds.            

Whether any of those themes are attainable is certainly in question. One thing is not in question however, that is how the contract may turn out and who will have a tremendous say in who will be running our local past the next election in 2012. How that assumption will affect the duration and quality of this negotiation period is unknown. It should be rather interesting.