Town Hall Meeting this Sunday, June 26, to organize a Social Strike on SF's MUNI.
Submitted on Sat, 06/25/2005 - 12:43am
Disclaimer - This is not an official campaign of the IWW; it is reposted here in solidarity.
This Sunday, June 26th we will have a Town Hall meeting to discuss strategy and logistics for a city-wide fare strike against San Francisco's MUNI. We also want to discuss the potential for a Bay Area-wide transit strike, involving AC Transit, SamTrans and BART employees, together with MUNI riders and drivers. We want to get the word out throughout the city for this with postering, leafleting and bus stop organizing. This is an effort to bring drivers and riders of public transit together against management, so we have invited MUNI drivers, as well as BART and AC Transit operators.
Join your fellow riders and drivers of public transit to organize for a social strike against fare hikes, service cuts, and attacks on MUNI workers.
Sunday June 26th, 7pm to 10 pm, at Cellspace, 2050 Bryant Street (cross street 18th) in San Francisco's Mission District.
WE CAN’T PAY -- WE WON’T PAY!
A wildcat social strike on all MUNI lines, where drivers don’t collect fares and riders don’t pay them, will stop attacks on working people
dead in their tracks!
$1.25 to 1.50? NO WAY!
CITY-WIDE FARE STRIKE ON MUNI! REFUSE TO PAY!
Bosses and politicians’ power to mess up our lives is limited by our willingness to play along with their game…
MUNI bureaucrats want to raise fares, cut service, and fire MUNI operators. But large-scale on-the-job action, where MUNI drivers and riders act together, can stop managements’ attacks on working people.
City politicians say MUNI faces a $57.3 million dollar deficit. They don’t mention that mass transit is a free ride for bosses and billion dollar corporations. MUNI exists to carry hundreds of thousands of wage-earners to our places of wage-slavery for corporate America. The labor power of MUNI riders produces billions in profits for big corporations downtown, yet the majority of downtown businesses don’t pay a dime for this service.
The erosion of our working and living conditions will go on and on…
BUT WE CAN STOP THIS ATTACK RIGHT NOW WITH MASS RESISTANCE!
MAKE THE RICH PAY FOR WHAT THEY SQUEEZE OUT OF MUNI!
FARE STRIKES WORK
In Italy in the 1970’s, working people fought back successfully against inflated prices for goods and services. One part of this was on-the-job wildcat strikes by bus and streetcar drivers, acting together with riders, where transit operators “forgot” to collect fares- and riders refused to pay them. Actions like this create an immediate bond of solidarity between transit system employees and working class commuters. We can do this now in San Francisco.
To keep us under control, they have to keep us afraid and divided. WHEN ALL OF US ACT TOGETHER WE WILL HAVE ALL THE POWER IN THIS SITUATION. BEFORE THIS GOES INTO EFFECT :
Talk with MUNI bus and trolley drivers, train operators and station agents. Spread the word about how riders and MUNI workers can act together against city government, MUNI management, and their big business bosses.
MUNI employees are organizing now -- see the SF Examiner's cover story from Friday June 17th. Many MUNI operators have expressed interest in this action. Talk with other riders -- help spread the word. Organize your local bus stop for a city-wide fare strike!
THE DAY THE NEW MEASURES TAKE EFFECT:
Be friendly and polite to MUNI personnel—and board MUNI without paying. Ride for free. The economic impact will force management to retreat!
DRIVERS- DON’T COLLECT FARES
RIDERS- DON’T PAY FARES
For more info and organizing material contact us at:
[email protected]
http://www.socialstrike.net
415-267-4801