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January 26, 2010 - No. 18 2009 in Review Public Sector Workers Oppose Wrecking of
Public Services and Stand Up for Well-Being of Society
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The New Year has brought
with it the good news of a
victory for the Vancouver and BC working class. HandyDART workers,
members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, through their courage
and determination finally forced the U.S. monopoly MV
Transportation to accept binding
arbitration to settle their disagreements over pensions, wages and
working conditions. Canadian workers and in particular those in
Vancouver are greatly enlivened with the news that a contingent of the
class has succeeded in their organized resistance to concessions and
the general pressure of the anti-social offensive. TML sends
its heartfelt congratulations and thanks
to the 525 members of ATU local 1724 and their leadership, who remained
steadfast during their 67 days of strike struggle. (Photo: kaikit.blogspsot.com) |
Former Vancouver City Councillor Tim Louis, a founding member and user of HandyDART mass paratransit, has pointed out that for 27 years the paratransit public system was organized and run by a user cooperative and during that period never once did the cooperative refuse to negotiate with its employees and never once did the cooperative remove any money from the service for personal gain. The long-term program of the cooperative was to have the HandyDART paratransit system eventually amalgamated with the general Translink mass transit system but this human-centred program was sabotaged in 2008 when the cooperative was contracted out to a U.S. monopoly.
The neo-liberal
capital-centred line that Canada's
people, resources, and means of production must serve the egocentric
aim of owners of capital here and abroad is destroying the social
fabric of the country. If it were not so tragic, it would be laughable
that a U.S. monopoly has swept into BC and
turned a much-needed public service for those who require special mass
transit workers and equipment into a private cash cow. What a travesty
and assault on the human personality! Congratulations again to members
of ATU Local 1724 for exposing and resisting this irrational behaviour
of the rich and privileged,
and raising the banner of a paratransit system integrated within the
general mass transit system, a public not-for-profit system where users
and workers are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve,
where passengers receive a constantly improving public service and
workers receive Canadian standard pensions,
wages and working conditions.
Whose Economy? Our Economy!
Who Decides? The People
Decide!
The resistance of Vancouver
HandyDART mass paratransit
workers and users to U.S. imperialist control of an important Canadian
public service raises the key questions: "Whose economy?" and "Who
decides Canada's economic and political agenda?" Ownership within a
capital-centred outlook is always made
a centre of focus determining control and decision-making power. As
private ownership and control of capital transfers power and control to
rich and privileged individuals, then public ownership of the basic
sectors of the socialized economy has to become a general Canadian
pursuit if Canadians are ever to exercise
effective control over the direction of their economy and uphold their
sovereign right to be decision-makers over the country's economic and
political affairs.
Opposition to privatization and support for public ownership of the basic sectors are a springboard for a battle for control over the direction of the economy. ATU Local 1724's struggle with a U.S. monopoly that seized control of a public service has brought to the fore the necessity to take ownership of our socialized economy and take control of the direction of our economy and collective lives. The neo-liberal agenda of privatization and anti-worker concessions underscores the necessity to resist and roll back the anti-social offensive with concrete measures that restrict monopoly right and vest sovereignty in the hands of the people.
Ownership and control lead to the power of decision-making both for the rich and powerful and conversely for the people. Struggles such as the one waged by ATU Local 1724 highlights the necessity to organize for a struggle over the key question of ownership, control and decision-making power over the basic sectors of the socialized economy. It took HandyDART workers 67 days of strike action to force the state and U.S. monopoly MV Transportation to agree to their demand for binding arbitration. This reflects the necessity of determined action by workers to defend their rights in the face of the arrogance and power of monopoly right based on ownership of capital. It also teaches Canadians of the necessity for workers and their allies to become politicians in their own right, to become worker politicians to fight for ownership, control and decision-making power over the socialized economy, Canada's collective life and political affairs, for a People's Canada.
Let us gain strength from the HandyDART workers' victory and redouble our efforts to defend the rights of all and to organize ourselves politically for decisive battles that need to be waged for Canadian workers and their allies to gain ownership, control and decision-making power over Canada's socialized economy and political affairs.
Congratulations to HandyDART workers! Let us together broaden the struggle for a People's Canada!
(For previous news of the HandyDART workers' struggle see TML Daily, December 22, 2009 - No. 239 in the archives)
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Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca