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“A Bum Deal”: Rip It Up, Vote It Down!  Workers Have the Power! NYC Transit: Throw Back the Giveback Contract! For two and a half days, no subways or buses with passengers moved. Union picket lines were large, spirited and solid. Economists reported hundreds of millions of dollars a day in losses. In spite of the hardships, and partly because of the racist vituperation against “greedy” and “thuggish” transit workers spewing out of the mouth of the billionaire mayor, the transit workers continued to enjoy wide public support. And yet, on Day 3 of the ’05 New York transit strike, the union leadership called it off and ordered strike lines taken down. It was a sellout. Five days later the TWU Local 100 union leadership spelled out the deal. Now all union members will now pay 1.5 percent of their wages for health care, a $110 million giveback to the Transit Authority bosses. Plus $1,000 fines for every TWU member under the anti-strike Taylor Law. A big “no” vote in a mail ballot is not enough. TWU Local 100 members must prepare for an all-out struggle to win. What’s needed is an open fight to forge a class-struggle leadership with a program going beyond economic issues to raise a series of transitional demands serving as a bridge leading from the present struggles of the workers to a revolutionary fight for power. NYC Transit: Throw Back the Giveback Contract!  (28 December 2005)

TWU Union Tops Cave, Call Off Strike Under pounding by the capitalist politicians and an orchestrated anti-union hate campaign in the bourgeois media, on December 22 the leadership of Transport Workers Union Local 100 caved in. The first NYC transit strike in 25 years shut down the largest subway system in the world. Yet although the strike was 100 percent effective, Local 100 president Roger Toussaint accepted a state “mediator’s” recommendation. There was no provision for amnesty for strikers against penalties under the state’s strikebreaking Taylor Law. We salute the New York transit workers for waging a powerful strike in defiance of draconian anti-labor laws, and urge the TWU ranks to throw back any giveback deal, insist on the union principle of “no contract, no work," and forge a class-struggle leadership.  TWU Union Tops Cave, Call Off Strike  (22 December 2005)

What the Labor-Hating Bosses’ Press Doesn’t Show You On Day 2 of the New York transit strike of 2005, city rulers escalated their campaign to demonize Transport Workers Union Local 100. Labeling the TWU “selfish” and “thuggish,” billionaire mayor Bloomberg hurled a barrage of racist vituperation against the largely black, Latino and immigrant union. TV and newspaper reports focused on the plight of commuters hoofing it to work. And tomorrow, a state judge is threatening to jail Local 100 leaders for striking. What the bosses’ kept press didn’t show were the large and vigorous TWU picket lines, and the popular sympathy they have received.   What the Labor-Hating Bosses’ Press Doesn’t Show You  (21 December 2005)  Solidarity from CUNY: Transit Strikers’ Fight Is Our Fight!  (21 December 2005)

The Real “Thugs”: Bosses’ Courts and Politicians Try to Bankrupt the TWU Hang Tough, Spread the Strike! Bust the Union-Busters! Day One of the first New York City transit strike in 25 years has been a lesson in class struggle. As soon as picket lines went up around NYC, the city’s rulers rushed to court. They are relying on the state apparatus to try to crush the walkout. They imagine that cops, courts, jail threats and whopping fines against the union can defeat the TWU. But the union is not bank accounts – it is the workers who make it up. And the transit workers showed today that they have the unity and strength to tie up New York in knots. The people who run this city and this country think they are the masters of the universe. They want to bust the union, but New York is a union town and together we can bust the union-busters!  Hang Tough, Spread the Strike! Bust the Union-Busters!  (20 December 2005)

Labor’s Gotta Play Hardball to Win – Workers Action Can Smash the Taylor Law! Strike to Shut Down All New York City Transport! MTA Subways and Buses, Private Lines, LIRR, Metro North, NJ Transit, PATH, Taxis, Livery Cabs, Ferries: Everybody Out! Drivers and mechanics at the Queens private lines walked out this morning and a strike deadline has been set for midnight. At union rallies last week, TWUers chanted over and over, “We have the power, union power!” Now we must use that power – or lose it. City rulers figure that TWU Local 100 leader Roger Toussaint doesn’t want a strike, but is under pressure from militant ranks. A serious transit strike is a class battle, and must be waged politically. Tying the union to the capitalist Democrats is a recipe for defeat. What’s needed is to forge a class-struggle union leadership that breaks with the bourgeois parties to build a revolutionary workers party. Strike to Shut Down All New York City Transport!  (19 December 2005)

Smash the Taylor Law with Mass Action! Shut Down NYC With An All-Out Transit Strike! As the New York City transit negotiations come down to the wire, city rulers are talking tough.  They pretend they can break a strike with New York’s Taylor Law, which outlaws walkouts by public employees. But the fact is that they can’t run the subways without the transit workers. It’s all a matter of power, and the TWU has it. The 33,000 transit workers can shut down New York City tight. What’s key is leadership. Rather than confronting the anti-union offensive head-on, the leadership of Local 100 talks of being “partners” with the MTA bosses.  If the Taylor Law is used against the TWU, all public employees unions should walk out. Shut Down NYC With an All-Out Transit Strike!  (10 December 2005)

Also:  Fight for a Class-Struggle Leadership in NYC Transit  (16 December  2002) You Can't Run NYC Subways with Bayonets!  (10 December  2002)