Despite D.C.Circulator operators flagging dozens of safety defects on Circulator buses and pressuring the Bowser administration to release a damning audit of the system, District Department of Transportation contractor First Transit continued to put defective buses into service anyway, said ATU Local 1764 on Friday. The union added that the company threatened to fire workers who refused to drive unsafe buses. After a morning press conference and testimony at the D.C. Council DDOT oversight hearing from Local 1764, the union representing the Circulator workers, and the Washington Interfaith Network, Council members Jack Evans and Mary Cheh condemned the convoluted management structure, substandard wages, and safety shortcuts that the union says have become commonplace at the Circulator. "Mayor Bowser's administration is playing a dangerous game here," said ATU Local 1764 Trustee Sesil Rubain. "They knew these buses were not fit to ride or drive in August, and they kept the DC Council, the union, and the public in the dark." ATU Local 1764 is currently in collective bargaining negotiations with First Transit and has made rider safety and fair wages for drivers top priorities.
Here’s today’s labor history: On this date in 1858, a group of "puddlers"—craftsmen who manipulated pig iron to create steel—met in a Pittsburgh bar and formed The Iron City Forge of the Sons of Vulcan. It was the strongest union in the U.S. in the 1870s, later merging with two other unions to form what was to be the forerunner of the United Steel Workers. In 1900, Florence Reece was born. Reece was active in coal strikes in Harlan County, Kentucky and wrote the famous labor anthem “Which Side Are You On?” when her father was out on strike when she was twelve years old. In 1924, Chris Turner was born in Floyd, Virginia. He went on to become a NASCAR driver and attempted, along with Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock, to organize the other drivers into a union in 1961 in the hope of better purses, a share in broadcasting rights and retirement benefits for the drivers. He was banned by NASCAR and was unsuccessful when he sued for reinstatement. The court said he was an individual contractor, not an employee of NASCAR or any track. And on this date in 1934, the Toledo Ohio Auto-Lite strike began with 6,000 workers demanding union recognition and higher pay. The strike is notable for a 5-day running battle in late May between the strikers and 1,300 members of the Ohio National Guard. Known as the "Battle of Toledo," the clash left two strikers dead and more than 200 injured. The 2-month strike, a win for the workers’ union, is regarded by many labor historians as one of the nation’s three most important strikes. Today’s labor quote is by Florence Reece “Come all of you good workers, Good news to you I'll tell Of how the good old union Has come in here to dwell. Which side are you on, Tell me, which side are you on?”
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