JH 66 War of Guests and Good Faith

Lane Transit District

As reported by Carol Allred

From the Northwest Labor Press

Unfortunately, my starting point for this article is in exactly the same place that it was for last month's article.

Your wage committee met again with the District on August 25^th. I had high hopes that the District's negotiating committee would have told the LTD Board of Directors that we would accept a one or two year extension of our current contract.

You see, as most of you know, I believe that people want to do the right thing if presented with the opportunity to do so. I believe that people will rise up to what is expected of them, whether it be management, bargaining unit members, the Board of Directors or our passengers. And from this day forward I refuse to call our passengers "guests" as the general manager would have us do. It is demeaning to the folks who count on us for a ride from point A to point B. They know they are passengers or customers and not guests!

Our passengers understand that all the while the general manager has forced this guest mentality down our throats. He has endorsed service cuts. Is that how you treat guests in your home? Do you buy a new house, new furniture, new vehicles, and invite the same guests you provided caviar five years ago and tell them it is potluck now, and instead of being your friend they have risen to the status of guest?

We discussed health insurance at the last negotiation session. The District presented a vague plan filled with a lot of maybe's and expected us to agree so we could get a pay raise for you all. We emphatically said, "NO"! We will not bargain against ourselves.

The District (Jackie Damm) accused your wage committee of not bargaining in "good faith." What a joke! They have proposed noting but takeaways from the first meeting. Bargaining means that we, the Union, attempt to make things better for our members. We ask for the moon they tell us they can only give us the earth. We must meet somewhere in the middle. If we are not "bargaining of good faith" it is because your wage committee refuses to balance the budget of Lane Transit District on your backs! We are bargaining in good faith. It is the District who has forgotten what good faith means.

And why is the District claiming to be broke? If it is having financial difficulties, is it possibly because we now have guests rather that revenue producing passengers. Is it because we now have designer buses with designer routes that go nowhere and serve no one. Is it because we have studies, retreats, logo and color changes that are never ending. Most importantly of all, it is because someone at LTD is not spending your tax dollars wisely.

This has gone on long enough. We need to put on our armor of battle and go to war!

Printed October 1, 2004

In Solidarity,

Joe Hill

JH 66