Bus Stop - Muni Union Tells Members to Shut Up and Drive
Submitted on Mon, 07/18/2005 - 9:52pm
By A.C. Thompson - San Francisco Bay Gaurdian, July 13 - July 19, 2005Disclaimer - The following article is reposted here out of solidarity for the rank & file workers described herein. Their views, the views of the author, and the views of the publisher do not necessarily agree with those of the IWW and vice versa.
As the sun sank July 6, Victor Grayson stood in the courtyard of Martin De Porres Hospitality House, a soup kitchen on Potrero Avenue founded by the dissident Catholic Dorothy Day. Grayson was there to address a loose-knit alliance of young, punk activists who think San Francisco Muni riders should refuse to pay their buck and a quarter if the mass transit system starts slashing bus routes, jacking up fares, and canning employees. The group is calling for a "social strike" (see www.socialstrike.net) and also encouraging drivers not to collect fares if Muni, which is hurting from a major cash crunch, goes forward with austerity measures.
Predictably, Grayson – a sharp cat who's been a Muni driver for 10 years, piloting buses on a number of lines through the Richmond District, the Marina, Laurel Heights, Cow Hollow, and other areas – is not Muni's favorite son right now.
Interestingly, he's also in deep shit with his own union, the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A.
The beef dates back to June 17, when Grayson and fellow driver Bari McGruder were quoted in a 530-word San Francisco Examiner story pushing the idea of a one-day walkout and dogging both Muni managers and the TWU. "Union leadership and Muni management have been in bed for years.... It's time to put the cards on the table and say it's time to stop," Grayson told the Ex.
Union honcho Bill Sisk responded in print by painting McGruder and Grayson as members of a "small group of insurgents" and said they would be fired for any renegade work stoppage. No strike ever materialized.
Now Sisk and company are trying to oust the duo from the union – it seems freedom of speech has no place in the labor movement. After the story ran, the union sent Grayson and McGruder letters saying they'd been suspended from the organization for violating its constitution and bylaws.
The letter accused the two of "maliciously publishing or circulating" false information about the union, "using the name of the local union" for an "unauthorized purpose," damaging the "interests and welfare" of the union, as well as improperly threatening to strike.
"This is frivolous," Grayson said. "I'm not the enemy. I'm not laying people off." Muni is in the process of increasing fares by 25", trimming routes, and axing 150 drivers in a bid to close a $57 million budget hole.
"They said we were doing something detrimental to the union by speaking out," added McGruder, an eight-year veteran who plies the 38, 9, 14, and 15 lines. "I have the right to speak what I feel."
The union, which represents roughly 2,000 workers, ratcheted things up a notch June 28, hauling the pair before a tribunal of three union members who assessed their alleged offenses and evaluated their loyalty. The hour-and-and-half-long quasi-trial was held at the TWU's Fillmore Street headquarters.
"They tried to say we're airing the union's private business," McGruder explained. "That's garbage. There's no gag order in the bylaws."
At UC Berkeley's Labor Center, chair Katie Quan was a little surprised by the situation. "In the union movement it's very common for rank-and-file members to criticize their leaders," Quan said, noting, however, that "it usually doesn't happen in public" for tactical reasons.
"Rarely, rarely have I heard of members being brought up on charges" for challenging union officials, she said.
Apparently, TWU 250-A doesn't want to talk about it. Sisk and other officials didn't return numerous phone calls made over a four day period. We'll take that as "no comment."
The tribunal has yet to issue a ruling, though it could suspend the pair for a year, which would essentially strip them of most union privileges during that time, like the right to vote in elections and have access to a shop steward should a dispute arise with management.
From what we can tell, the union is behaving a tad hypocritically about the whole thing. While union bigwigs harsh on McGruder and Grayson, they're showing a very different face to the city. Anticipating that city officials might come down on the duo, Sisk sent a letter to Mayor Gavin Newsom and outgoing Muni honcho Michael Burns, telling them not to even think about sanctioning Grayson and McGruder for their comments in the press.
"These members are obviously acting on their own," Sisk wrote in the June 17 missive. "However, we wish to state as well that this union will not stand by idly should management unfairly discipline or retaliate against any member of this union for exercising his/her rights as American citizens and employees of Muni of free speech."
And while Sisk is punishing Grayson and McGruder for talking about a wildcat strike, he enthusiastically backed cable car operators who walked out in March, an action for which the union is now being sued.
McGruder is peeved about the situation: "It's bad enough we have to fight management, but now we're fighting our own union."
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