Education
Send in Your Rosie the Riveter Photo
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Local 589 Assistant Secretary Karen Maxwell is putting together a photo collection to highlight the fierce women of our union who are on the frontlines. For the photos, please recreate the iconic Rosie the Riveter pose, a symbol of women’s strength and contributions to the workforce, and wear an ATU shirt or hat,…
Read MoreTransgender Awareness Week
This week (Nov. 13 – 19) marks Transgender Awareness Week, a chance to celebrate our trans brothers and sisters and acknowledge that public transit should be safe and accessible to all, regardless of gender or presentation. Learn more at https://www.glaad.org/transgender/transfaq. #TAW2021 #acceptance #equality
Read MoreMany To Thank for Successful Mental Health Training
Brothers and Sisters, I want to take this time to thank Janet Gerhard and FHE Health for all the information shared at yesterday’s mental health seminar. Thank you to Local 589 President Jim Evers and the entire Executive Board for getting behind this seminar and understanding the importance of mental health in the workplace. Most of all, thank you to…
Read MoreSen. Warren Defends Taxpayer Protection Act
Watch the video below as U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren defends the Taxpayer Protection Act (Pacheco Law) at a Banking Committee hearing. The following is an excerpt from her remarks: “I think it’s clear we need to address our long term transportation funding issues but in a manner that provides the same quality of service and…
Read MoreThe Myth That Privatization Is Always the Solution
Governing Magazine | By Suzanne M. Bump | June 26, 2015 When it comes to regulating the privatization of government services, it seems that one person’s mindless bureaucratic obstacle is another’s essential accountability mechanism. Thus it is in Massachusetts, where an exemption from a state law governing privatization is being sought in the name of fixing…
Read MoreColumn: In defense of the Pacheco Law
Salem News | By Marc R. Pacheco | Sunday, July 5, 2015 In a recent column for The Salem News, Eileen McAnneny states that the Taxpayer Protection Act has “hindered the T’s fundamental ability to maintain and repair its assets. Over the past five years, the barriers created by the Pacheco Law have contributed to…
Read MoreFive Reasons Why Transit Privatization Is Bad For Massachusetts
Privatization does not guarantee savings. Proponents of privatizing transit often make lofty claims about savings through private sector efficiencies. But frequently these claims couldn’t be farther from the truth. Public agencies are often more efficient because no profit margin gets siphoned off to shareholders. In Phoenix, Veolia demanded an additional $27.5 million on top of…
Read MoreIs The Boston Globe’s Joan Vennochi Too Lazy To Read Her Own Story Or Simply A Pawn For Privatization?
Last Friday, Boston Globe columnist, Joan Vennochi, wrote a column titled: “Labor’s hot rhetoric grows cool without facts.” Judging by the title of her column, the only one light on facts appears to be Joan Vennochi herself. In her column, Vennochi criticizes organized labor for attacking the Pioneer Institute. Pump the breaks right now and think about…
Read MoreThe Koch Brothers’ War on Transit
Billy Moyers & Company | By Angie Schmitt | October 3, 2014 Transit advocates around the country were transfixed by a story in Tennessee this April, when the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity made a bid to pre-emptively kill Nashville bus rapid transit. It was an especially brazen attempt by Charles and David Koch’s political…
Read MoreHow to earn profits and avoid taxes
Boston Globe | By Evan Horowitz | October 14, 2015 When US companies earn profits abroad, they don’t have to pay taxes straightaway. They can hold on to that money, tax free, so long as they don’t use it for their US operations. This little loophole in US tax law gives companies a strong incentive to book…
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