Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/dec2009/mbta-d04.shtml

Boston mass transit system report exposes widespread safety dangers
By John Marion
4 December 2009
A report on greater Boston’s public transportation agency—the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)—details the near bankruptcy of the system and the dangerous effects of inadequate budget on safety and service. The review was ordered by Governor Deval Patrick and released November 1.
David D’Alessandro, the report’s author, made headlines upon its release by stating that sections of the subway are so in need of repair—the tracks are separating from the underlying concrete slabs—that he would not ride on them out of fear of derailment.
The MBTA, or the “T,” is the fifth-largest mass transit system in the US, measured by ridership. Each day hundreds of thousands of working people from more than 150 communities use its 187 bus routes, four subway lines and 14 commuter rail lines. According to the MBTA Advisory Board, 73 percent of Massachusetts residents live in the cities and towns served by the T.
Greater Boston’s public transportation system—in the form of rail lines, streetcars, elevated rails and subways—is also one of the nation’s oldest. Some commuter rail lines date to the early 19th century. Streetcar congestion in downtown Boston led to the establishment of subways. What was once the Tremont Street Subway, which opened on September 1, 1897 in downtown Boston, is the oldest stretch of subway operating in North America.

Judge: TSA violated Rastafarian screener's rights at Bostons' Logan Airport

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/17/AR2009111704585.html?hpid=sec-nation

Judge: TSA violated Rastafarian screener's rights

The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 17, 2009; 10:59 PM

BOSTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the rights of a Rastafarian baggage screener at Boston's Logan International Airport were violated when he was threatened with firing unless he cut his hair.

An administrative judge has issued an interim ruling in favor Josue Brissot (JOE'-sway BREE'-soh) and scheduled a February hearing on potential compensation.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that Brissot was assured when the Transportation Security Administration hired him in 2002 that his long dreadlocks were not a problem.

By 2005, the ACLU says, he was being told his hair was against agency policy and he would be fired unless he cut it. Brissot keeps his hair long for religious reasons.

The ACLU says Brissot's treatment violated federal discrimination law.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said she could not comment on pending litigation

http://www.bostonschoolbusunion.org/
Tentative Agreement Reached in Contract Negotiations

Drivers and supporters rally and prepare to strike outside 11th hour negotiations at the Painters Union hall, August 20, 2008. photo: Maureen Skehan
All Out to
Ratification Meeting

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd
Boston Teachers Union Hall 6:00 PM

Read and Download First Student's Final Offer

Read and Download
Memorandum of Agreement regarding GPS

Alert! No Concessions! No Cutbacks!

Discussions for a new labor agreement between the Union and First Student are continuing. The Union is determined to fight for the hardworking women and men who for over 3 decades have provided safe, on-time, professional transportation to the students of Boston.
Today, June 30, 2008, the Union presented a proposal to the company which states in part:

"In the interest of concluding a fair and just Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and allowing ample time and opportunity for serious joint efforts to resolve all remaining areas of dispute, the Union proposes a limited extension. The intent is to allow time to reach an agreement well prior to the “start up” of the 2008-2009 school year and spare the tremendous hardship to the students and parents of Boston, as well as the significant costs to the parties, financial and otherwise, associated with a strike. This Extension Agreement would include an agreement for retroactivity to July 1, 2008 for the new CBA, including but not limited to wages, benefits, terms and conditions, as well as other issues of interest to the parties.

By Scott Malone - Reuters, March 6, 2007

BOSTON - A Massachusetts state agency has ruled that complaints by four Arab-American men they were harassed by managers at FedEx Corp. -- who called at least two of them 'terrorists' -- may proceed.

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination rejected FedEx's call to dismiss the complaints.

Kuwait-born Loay El-Dagany, 31, said on Monday he was subjected to abusive treatment by his manager from the time he started working as a FedEx trucker in Massachusetts in 2003.

'When I started working with FedEx, this guy, he tried to push me hard and called me names, using words like 'terrorist',' El-Dagany told Reuters. 'He mentioned (Al Qaeda leader Osama) bin Laden, that we may be cousins ... Sometimes, when he doesn't like something, he'd take one of the packages and throw it in my face and go and scream.'

Three other truck drivers who worked at the same Wilmington, Massachusetts location: Montaser Foad Harara, a Palestinian; Oukhayi Ibrahim, a Moroccan; and Yasir Sari, of Sudan, made similar claims in filings to the state agency in July. The four men are Muslim.

FedEx spokesman Perry Colosimo described the charges as 'unsubstantiated allegations.'