SF MUNI TWU 250-A Driver Speaks Out: No Reaseon To Giveback-Our labor CREATES value! Operators are an asset not a liability
SF MUNI TWU 250-A Driver Speaks Out: No Reaseon To Giveback-Our labor CREATES value! Operators are an asset not a liability
NO REASON TO GIVEBACK.
Our labor CREATES value! Operators are an asset not a liability.
SURPLUS VALUE.
The pay and benefits we receive represent only a portion of the value created by our labor. The portion of our labor value kept by the employer can be understood as SURPLUS VALUE.
The employer accumulates and keeps the total of all the employees surplus value.
In the private sector this accumulation of surplus value becomes "capital",
profit and bonuses for the exclusive use of the employer nand his class.
In the public sector this accumulation has to be understood in the context
of revenue / taxes. Public sector workers create value and services ,
which the public pays for with various fees, fares and taxes.
A CONTRADICTION.
There is an inherent contradiction in the public sector for the capitalists/ employers.
Unlike private profit, in the public sector the accumulation of our surplus value belongs to us -to the public. Since this is supposed to be a democracy, we can contend with the capitalists over how to use it.
PRIVATIZATION.
The public needs services such as education, transportation and healthcare. Even if the capitalists can eliminate public services from the public sector, we’ll still need them.
We will be forced to buy services from the private sector with our personal wages rather our collective taxes. In this scenario the capitalists sell us the services we need for a profit
AND accumulate all the surplus value of our labor.
A STRATEGIC ATTACK.
At this particular time, 2010, the public sector represents the largest number
of unionized workers in the USA. What is happening to us is part of a serious national and international attack on working people.
Real or fake, the so-called “economic crisis” was caused by the capitalists and they are maintaining it. They are in a monopoly stage of accumulation and reorganization. There is
NO SHORTAGE OF MONEY, they simply have a different set of priorities, ethics and values then we do.
What is happening here in San Francisco is part of a strategic attack on working people and public resources. I recommend reading THE SHOCK DOCTRINE by Naomi Klein for more insight into what we are facing.
MUNI NEEDS TAX MONEY
Federal and State tax revenues have been reduced, so increased tax revenues must come from local sources.
The Board of Supervisors must immediately create four Transit Assessment Districts to produce dedicated streams of revenue for MUNI: (1) Union Square/Powell (2) Financial District (3) ATT Park/SOMA (4) 3rd St./Biotech.
It’s indisputable that locating a business in San Francisco automatically adds value to it, and MUNI service adds additional value transporting shoppers, tourists and employees.
We need forward thinking from our government and MUNI Management, and a rededication to our SF Transit First goals. In a time of global warming and resource scarcity, there can be no excuses or hesitation. Cutting Public Transit is not a "new solution" and cannot be acceptable.
WHO SHOULD “PONY UP & SHARE THE PAIN” ?
Ruling class families: Fiensteins and Richard Blum
the Mayor related by marriage to Pelosi,
the Mayor fronting for the Shroensteins and giving away Hunters Pt/Bayview to Lennar Corporation also connected to Pelosi
Businesses: Gucci, DeBeers, Tiffany, Hyatt, Grubb & Ellis, Gap, B of A
100 +companies headquartered in San Francisco, see Wikipedia:
OPERATORS NEED INFORMATION
To adequately fight these gangsters and parasites, we need the following information:
1) Muni audit: we have to keep the pressure on to make sure it is done AND
communicate to those doing the audit (a) our concerns, (b) what info. do we want from it.
2) A sum-up and/or audit of the Transit Impact Development Fee, an ordinance
passed by the Board of Supervisors in 1981. Has it been collected for the past 29yrs?
What about this year? Where has the money gone? Who owes it still?
3) For perspective when understanding our own situation and informing the public
we should know the pay and benefits of all non-union MUNI workers ie: management.
4) We should know the pay and benefits of the supervisors, their staffs and all city workers
5) TWU 250A should make available to any operator a copy of the city budget and MUNI budget.
By Dave Readon, rank and file member TWU 250-A