Bike Rides In Brooklyn ...And Other Matters.: Working Class Hero

Apr 24, 2006

Thousands of working New Yorkers took to the streets today in solidarity with Transit Workers Local 100 leader, Roger Toussaint. Unbelievable, but true, that here in New York city, a labor town, a union leader was being sent to jail for the crime of leading his union brothers and sisters in a strike to defend their living standards. Forced to the wall by the notoriously corrupt MTA, the workers had no choice - it was give back or fight back! Under Toussaint's leadership the transit workers chose to take a stand. They demanded to be treated with respect and dignity.

When France's conservative government, in U.S. style, tried to take away job security from young French workers, all hell broke loose. The students and workers took to the streets in unending demonstrations against the new law. And they didn't quit until they had forced the government to back down and withdraw. NY Times reporters bemoaned the "rigidity" of French workers and praised the "spirit of adventure" of American labor, as if living through the hell of endless givebacks, cutbacks and layoffs is an exciting part of life that Americans just can't wait to try. Just where do they get this crap from?

When the transit workers went on strike they were taking action on behalf of all American workers, organized and not. And thus they won the emnity of the New York ruling class from Pataki to Bloomberg to Kalikow. The full force of the media was brought out to attack these hard working public servants. Bloomberg, resorting to overt racism, called them thugs. Clyde Haberman, NY Times reporter, who generally hewes to a liberal line, snootily referred to them as slugs, blaming the split contract vote in Local 100 on the union leaders rather than the divisive and ugly tactics of the MTA. Informal polls showed wide support amongst the population for the courage of the transit workers. But Haberman painted a picture of popular anger at the strikers, quoting Barry Feinstein, a discredited, former Teamster mis-leader who now sits alongside the millionaire bosses on the MTA. What a scoop, Clyde! Perhaps you'll win a Pulitzer for your talented rhyming of "slug" with "thug."

Today's rally and march across the bridge could and should be the start of a militant upsurge by New York workers. Perhaps the judge in his black robes, representing the wealthy elite of our city, did us all a favor by jailing Roger Toussaint and attacking the union with draconian fines and a suspension of the dues checkoff. It might just be the start of a new civil rights movement. We haven't forgotten that the great leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, died as he was giving his support to striking sanitation workers in Memphis. They were also despised and attacked by those in power. But King knew the value of labor -

I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions.

This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream — a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.

That is the dream...

Today's rally was chaired by a feisty United Federation of Teachers President, Randi Weingarten, who was joined by the leaders of dozens of NYC unions. Community leaders, City Council members and Congressman Major Owens also spoke along with Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Herbert Daugherty. Thousands of union members, Black, Brown and white, filled the plaza in front of Brooklyn's Borough Hall and the streets reverberated to the sound of thousands voicing their solidarity as Toussaint mounted the platform to lead the march across the bridge and to prison in the Manhattan tombs. It was a beautiful and moving sight. The message was clear -- Tomorrow is another day ... the fight continues.