TWU Local 291 Kills Massive Service Cuts, Prevents Layoff of 700 Workers, But Braces for Ongoing Assault on Public Transit Funding

With huge service cuts and layoffs hanging in the balance, TWU Local 291 mobilized community leaders and the riding public to fend off the attack on mass transit in Miami-Dade County—for now. Local officers are mounting an ongoing campaign to make sure the county lives up to the promises of the “People’s Transportation Plan,” passed in 2002, which was supposed to add and improve service, not cut it.

The first bullet was dodged last month when the County Commissioners narrowly voted to raise bus fares and thus put off the draconian cuts and layoffs. The action came after Local 291 alerted the public to the threat to mass transit. Extensive leafleting, phone banking, talk show appearances, newspaper ads and even a mock “funeral for transit” resulted in riders and the tax-paying public inundating the Commissioners with angry phone calls.

Local 291 President Wessell Clark heaped praise for the successful campaign on his activist membership base. “The membership deserves so much credit for this victory. Many of their jobs were on the line; they were the ones who heard it from the public everyday, and they were the ones who did the heavy lifting in this campaign. Their work, and the work we all did here at the Local, makes us all better prepared to face the next challenge.”

Clark said it is important to understand that in 2002 voters approved a 1/2 cent sales tax surcharge. In return for this money, the county promised dramatic improvements and expansion of the transit system. The Miami Herald, in a series of articles on the crisis, charged the transit agency with inept and blatant misuse of the extra funds. Citing the promise of expanded transit in Citing the promise of expanded transit in exchange for the sales tax money, the newspaper said that cutting bus service and  whole routes was “a betrayal to riders.”

The proposed cuts would have reduced service by more than 5 million miles and resulted in a layoff of 700 to 800 transit employees.

Commenting on TWU’s initial victory in defeating the cuts, International Vice President J.W. Johnson said “the verdict is in, but the jury is still out.” He said the fragile majority of support on the Miami-Dade Board of Commissioners makes it likely that the threat of cuts will resurface.

With assistance from TWU International, Local 291 will continue to build a coalition of civic leaders and the riding public. A lawsuit has been filed to compel the county to live up to the promises of the People’s Transportation Plan and the local will also fight against efforts to repeal the sales tax surcharge. “Riders and taxpayers must demand that they get what they were promised and are still paying for,” Johnson said.