{"id":178119,"date":"2019-03-01T20:53:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T01:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/03\/01\/bernie-sanders-walking-the-walk\/"},"modified":"2019-03-01T20:53:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T01:53:00","slug":"bernie-sanders-walking-the-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/03\/01\/bernie-sanders-walking-the-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernie Sanders Walking the Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernie Sanders is all over the strike at Wabtec in Erie, PA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

GE sold the plant to Wabtec a few days ago, and Wabtec has attempted to invalidate the union agreement: (Full disclosure, I worked there from 1994-1996)<\/p>\n

When 1,700 members of United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America<\/a> Locals 506 and 618 struck<\/a> at the sprawling Wabtec locomotive plant in Erie, Pennsylvania, Tuesday morning, they got an immediate show of solidarity from one of the most prominent political figures in the United States. <\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are sick and tired of corporate America and their wealthy CEOs ripping off working families,\u201d announced Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, in a tweet dispatched shortly after the picket line was established<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m proud to stand with the locomotive manufacturing workers of @ueunion Local 506 and 618 in their fight against GE\/Wabtec to maintain decent wages and working conditions.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s the right response from a contender for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. Democrats have to stand in outspoken solidarity with workers, especially when their unions are struggling to preserve manufacturing jobs and maintain fair wages in historic urban and industrial centers such as Erie. <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

The strike in Erie pits a union with deep roots in Western Pennsylvania<\/a> and American manufacturing against a powerful multinational corporation\u2014Webtec (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)<\/a>\u2014that, after taking charge this week of a former GE Transportation manufacturing facility, has refused to maintain existing protections for workers. \u201cWe are extremely disappointed that the company could not see its way to agree to continue the terms and conditions that we have worked under for decades. Their refusal leaves us with no choice but to go out on strike to protect our members\u2019 and our children\u2019s future,\u201d says UE Local 506 president Scott Slawson. <\/p>\n

According to UE: \u201cWabtec\u2019s terms and conditions, which they imposed when they took over the plant on Monday, include the introduction of mandatory overtime and arbitrary schedules, wage reductions of up to 38 percent for recalled and newly-hired workers, and the right to use temporary workers for up to 20 percent of the work in the plant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

Sanders has been in the thick of this fight. Last week, he wrote<\/a> Wabtec CEO Raymond Betler a letter that called out the new boss for trying to squeeze concessions out of workers. \u201cLet\u2019s be clear,\u201d noted Sanders. \u201cWabtec is not a poor company. It is not going broke. Through the first three quarters of last year, Wabtec made a $256 million profit and had enough money to give you a $3.5 million compensation package.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cCorporate executives must not use the merger between GE and Wabtec to hurt workers,\u201d wrote the senator, who argued that \u201cthe Wabtec\/GE merger should not be used to take away the hard-fought gains UE has achieved over the past several decades.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sanders promised to \u201cprovide my full support and solidarity to the workers at this plant to ensure that they achieve a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement.\u201d And he has done just that, using his considerable social-media presence<\/a> and public appearances (including a CNN Town Hall event Monday night<\/a>) to focus attention on what he has described as a struggle that has meaning for \u201cworking Americans everywhere.\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From the rest of the voluminous Democratic Presidential field?  **Crickets** <\/p>\n

To a large degree, my experience at GE Transportation Systems (GETS) (now Wabtec) is responsible for my political move left in my middle age.<\/p>\n

It was a contentious labor environment, and management, primarily the big bosses at the Connecticut headquarters loathed the union, and the workers.<\/p>\n

I wholeheartedly support the strikers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bernie Sanders is all over the strike at Wabtec in Erie, PA. GE sold the plant to Wabtec a few days ago, and Wabtec has attempted to invalidate the union agreement: (Full disclosure, I worked there from 1994-1996) When 1,700 members of United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America Locals 506 and 618 struck …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[615,365,450,465,374,471,442],"class_list":["post-178119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bernie-sanders","tag-business","tag-employment","tag-labor","tag-politics","tag-transportation","tag-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}