Day 36: ATU TRANSDEV STRIKE UPDATES

Today marks 36 days of strike for ATU Local 689 Metrobus workers employed by Transdev at WMATA's Cinder Bed Road garage. The unions is scheduled to return to the bargaining table with Transdev on December 4-5.
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"We are suspending both the Cinder Bed Road and WMATA pickets for the holiday, in order to give everyone some much needed rest and family time before we embark on the next chapter of escalation in this campaign," reports ATU's Todd Brogan. "We will have volunteer sentries checking in on the facility to make sure Transdev doesn’t try any funny business."

Strikers will be back on the line at 5:00 a.m. Monday, December 2, and will continue WMATA pickets then as well. “This Thanksgiving, we should be thankful for the strikers at Cinder Bed Road Bus Garage and all workers who put everything on the line to stand up for economic and social justice," said ATU President John A. Costa. “And, if you can, one of the ways you can express your gratitude for all of the things you’re thankful for this Thanksgiving is to “pay it forward” in the form of a contribution to the ATU Cinder Bed Road Bus Garage strikers.
They’re fighting for all of us. And we know that “Together We Fight, Together We Win!”
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Brogan also reports:

·        Thanks to Rev. Graylan Hagler and ATU International, all strikers are going home with a turkey or a gift card to help their families over the holiday.
·       On Tuesday, nearly two dozen strikers joined DC Jobs with Justice and the Metro Labor Council to do DC Council drop ins at the Wilson Building. They talked to most of the Councilmembers or their staff directly. Elissa Silverman even convened a hallway meeting with them. Both Silverman and R. White made important remarks during the oversight hearing for the incoming DC principal director to the WMATA Board. Both also sit on the Facilities and Procurement Committee, which has oversight of WMATA. We’re asking them to send a letter to the agency.
·       At the Fairfax Connector, where ATU Local 1764 is bargaining with Transdev, the company is trying to divide and conquer members, dangling some increases in front of them while ignoring all of the other issues on the table. Members aren’t having it, and are committed to standing together and in solidarity with Local 689 at Cinder Bed Road until everyone can go to work with a fair and just contract. The Connector contract expires this Saturday, November 30.
·       If you know people who take a bus in Fairfax County, help them start making alternate arrangements for the first week of December.
·       If Connector does indeed strike next week, we will be sextupling the number of workers on strike and quadrupling the number of picket locations, so we will need all the support we can get.
·       Best media pieces on the strike this week are this Washington Post piece profiling a few key strikers, this Inequality.org piece on the big picture, and this WAMU piece on our Board action.
·       Thanks to each and every one of you who have helped us hold the line this long. We are going to win this thing.
 
Here’s how you can help:
·       Donate $: http://bit.ly/cinderbedstrike
·       Donate : http://bit.ly/cinderbedmeals
·       Picket in VA (daily): https://facebook.com/events/2310195405775260/
·       Picket in DC (weekdays): https://facebook.com/events/553753515478162/
·       Link up with DC JWJ to help with solidarity direct actions: [email protected].
·       Firewood is still key as the weather gets cold. We’ve got two burn barrels now, and need kindling and logs.
·   Call out @wmata on Twitter and @metroforward on Facebook with words of support for the strikers. Remember to tag @atulocal689 and @atucomm on Twitter or @atulocal689group on Facebook so we can repost.