Bus drivers, monitors set to picket (Democratic) convention

[Khephra]

Boston's school bus drivers and monitors are planning a picket line outside the FleetCenter during the Democratic National Convention, reviving the specter of labor unrest outside the convention arena.

The nearly 1,200 bus drivers and monitors lack the political clout of the 1,400-member Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, which dropped its threats to picket at the FleetCenter last week, and it is unclear how many drivers would turn out for picket lines. But labor demonstrations at the convention arena could present a difficult choice for convention delegates and Senator John F. Kerry, who last week honored the police union's picket line at the US Conference of Mayors meeting in Boston. "I don't cross picket lines," Kerry told reporters at the time.

Now, the unions representing the bus drivers and monitors are calling on Kerry and delegates to do the same at the convention later this month. "We appreciated John Kerry's position that he wouldn't cross a picket line," said Steven Gillis, president of the bus drivers' union, which has gone a year working without a contract. "Hopefully, local and national Democrats will do the same."

more............

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/07/bus_drivers_monitors_set_to_picket_convention/

[chimpy the poopthrower]

1. Why would they want to drag Kerry into this?

What do they expect Kerry to do? Blow off the convention? They must realize that Kerry can not and should not have any influence on the city's contract negotiations, so the union is effectively punishing someone who has nothing to do with their situation. They are making Kerry look like a liar for saying he doesn't cross picket lines.

[2Design]

2. this is wrong...the timing is wrong....they will only pisss off a lot

of dems and make the rethugs happy....

this is the wrong platform to do this under....

it can only hurt everyone...and make mitt happy

[mbperrin]

3. Maybe it's the mayor....check out this "loyal" Dem's

actions:

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=33881

Mayor Thomas M. Menino unloaded a searing attack on fellow Democrat John F. Kerry yesterday, calling his presidential campaign ``small-minded'' and ``incompetent'' - laying bare a years-old rift weeks before the city plays host to Kerry's FleetCenter coronation.

<snip>

Kerry decided late Sunday night not to give the speech in deference to picketing cops, angering Menino - who quickly replaced him with Republican Gov. Mitt Romney , in a reciprocal snub.

<snip>

Aides to Menino say the famously fickle mayor has never felt particularly close to Kerry and could well hold back some of his ground troops, which helped put Kerry over the top in critical primaries.


I'm not from there, but this mayor, who replaces Dem speakers with Pubs and threatens to withhold support and calls the candidate for the Dems "incompetent" might not be beyond extending some labor turmoil to get whatever he thinks he's going to get........

[Gman]

4. I'm one national delegate that will not cross that picket line

I may travel a very long way just to go hold a picket sign and walk with the strikers. But I will not cross a picket line.

Don't think there will be one "pissed off" Democrat on this one. No good Democrat crosses a picket line.

[mbperrin]

5. Thanks, Gman! As my dad used to say,

"Any scab that would cross a picket line would and IS drinking your children's blood!"

NOBODY ever ought think about crossing a line.

[jpak]

9. Every delegate should do that

The repugs would have a hissy fit at the sight of hundreds of Democrats standing and cheering in solidarity with the picket line.

Would make for a great media event...

:)

[mbperrin]

15. Yes, it would!

Now you're talkin'!

[Gman]

22. Don't think that wouldn't happen

It's much more likely than not if there's a picket line there. It'd send a great message.

[IA_Seth]

17. Unfortunate

Before I ask, let me clarify that I consider myself pro-union and this is ONLY a question.

What do these bus drivers have to do with the convention? I understand they are involved in a labor dispute, but why protest AT the convention? Unless the convention has anything to do with the labor dispute wouldn't it be like striking outside of a grocery store (or convenience store, or church, or anything else off the topic of the labor dispute) and then being pissed if anyone went inside? I understand the point of striking at the place of conflict, but I don't see how the convention is that?

Anyone who is really union experienced want to clarify that for me please?

As a side note, I WOULD understand the police union's strike, they are obviously being tasked with a hell of a job policing outside of the convention so the convention itself becomes a viable protest location in my eyes.

[IA_Seth]

18. Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

[jdj]

27. I don't know, and my family is union on both sides

(railroad and telecom), but you must never try to deny liberals a chance to shoot ourselves in the foot. James Carville says this is the main difference between dems and repubs, repubs may groan under their breath, but they fall in line behind their guy when it's time to do so. Dems hold on to our respective issues to the point and past that it is self-destructive, and the union picketing here seems masochistic to the point of self-mutilation.

[Gman]

30. Yup, that's right

that's what we do and do very well!

[progressivebydesign]

24. Hey.. then why the FUCK doesn't the GOP pay ALL unions picket there?

Where does it stop? The bus drivers have absolutely NO reason to strike there.. it's totall political bullshit. They're idiots. That's a picket line I'd cross.. they're being idiots.

[Gman]

25. You cross a picket line and you are NOT a liberal nor a Democrat

The reason they would picket the convention is leverage. Picketing the convention gets them a ton of leverage over their employer because no one wants the convention shut down. So if they don't want a shut down convention, settle the contract.

And all the more power to the bus drivers in doing it. You don't get a chance to get such leverage very often. They should take full advantage of the opportunity.

[BiggJawn]

6. So they're gonna hold the convention out in the street?

Wonder how much Gillis and his Union cost Karl? What good will it do, besides disrupt the national convention, to picket the hall.

Shouldn't Gillis and his Union be picketting the school board offices? Isn't it the school commissioners who needs to be picketted, not politcal delegates? What can a delegate from Oregon do for the school bus drivers of Boston? Besides make great propaganda for the RW press if they cross the line, I mean....

Don't forget, the Carpenters came out strong for Shrub 4 years ago. Not ALL unions support the Democratic cause.

[hightime]

10. So there are "good" unions and "bad" unions?

I thought the unions were made up of common working people who just want to have a job, get paid and raise their kids. Do we turn our backs on those that don't act the way we say? At that point, what separates us from the Reps.?

[BiggJawn]

13. Isn't that a "Strawman Argument" or something like that?

Where did you get the idea that I think we should "turn our backs on Unions"?

You got that from my statement asking what does the Democratic National Convention and the convention hall in Boston have to do with a local school union contract dispute?

I wonder out loud about why Gillis and his Union are planning on picketting the DNC,and who's paying them to, and you see anti-Unionism in that?

And people call *ME* a foil-hatter!

[Rose Siding]

7. I'd support this picket long before the police union's

(based on the info in this article) And surely, the bus drivers are more traditionally democratic.

The police had been offered nearly 12% of the 17% raise they were seeking when they did their grandstand picket and I'd be surprised if their present comp pkg isn't light years ahead of bus drivers.

[bleedingedge]

8. Could it actually work to Kerry's advantage?

Now I don't think the following scenario will happen and if it did, it might backfire

BUT..

One of the main rubs the Reps. have used against Kerry is the whole nonsensical "flip-flopping" issue, which they're using as a way of painting Kerry as a career politician who considers tactics before personal beliefs.

SO...

Imagine he stays outside the convention, refusing to cross the line, and says he stands with the unions and is proud to celebrate his proudest moment in the company of America's working men and women.

I, for one, would go apeshit. Man, that would be a moment. But then again, a lot of Americans any more have such a knee-jerk reaction against unions that it might work against him.

[DS1]

11. Let them picket. I'll be able to get to work in a reasonable amount of

time.

Fuck school buses.

[hightime]

12. Fuck school buses, and their drivers, and the kids they haul.

Fuck the public schools also and the teachers and every union associated with all of them.


(Do I need a sarcasm statement here or should I leave it off as I am sure you did?)

[yellowcanine]

14. Picket lines should be where they make sense. Picketing a convention

center by school bus drivers doesn't make sense. Thus I suspect they won't be setting up a picket line as such but will simply be demonstrating there for visibility. If the delegates and candidates show them respect and listen to their grievances, it could be a plus for the Democrats.

[DS1]

16. What's wrong with having GPS devices in their buses?

I can't see any imaginable reason why they'd be against this. Suppose the bus tips over, or some kid gets his or her back snapped because they are forced to ride these rolling yellow death traps, what's wrong with EMS services knowing where they are?

[Maddy McCall]

19. I don't see the problem, either.

It's not like having a county-owned SUV or state-owned Crown Vic. They can't take one of those big yellow beasts to the corner bar and toss back a few, or to the mall to shop during the late morning. How can you have or expect ANY privacy while driving a school bus?

Honestly, where could you take a school bus but on your route? And since you only use the bus on the route, why would there be any problem with GPS? And why would you NOT want me to know where you are with my kid?

[dolstein]

20. This is not the labor movement's finest moment

It is clearly in the best interests of organized labor that Kerry get elected president. But instead of working to support his candidate, a bus driver's union is attempting to hold the Democratic convention hostage in order to score points in a local labor dispute with the city's mayor.

Kerry just may regret saying that he'd never cross a picket line.

[Maddy McCall]

21. I agree with another DUer...was just going to post this.

They are picketing the right venue at the wrong time.

[progressivebydesign]

23. Complete assbites...

How DARE they try to take over OUR convention? This is petty bullshit.. who runs that union? Moe Howard? This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard.. what idiots. Picket the schools, whatever.. or hell, why not be glad you have a job with benefits? Instead why not fuck up the Party that actually does things for people in jobs like that. Idiots.

[Gman]

26. Labor IS the Democratic Party as are the rest of us

they can do what they want and should take advantage of every opportunity they can get. I'm with 'em all the way.

[jdj]

28. I'm sorry, I'm not, not in this instance.

Not picketing the dem convention in such a crucial year, for the whole freaking world, not just the U.S. Unionized labor is about 8% of the labor force, why would they want to screw things up for the party that is working really hard to make things better for them and the other 92% of workers? It seems a little prima donna-ish to me.

[Gman]

29. I'm sure you don't realize it but...

that's a very Republican attitude. You need to learn more about the labor movement.

[BlueCollar]

31. Because Labor

men and women, although only 8% of the workforce, have been the backbone of the democratic party for years.

Our money and organizing ability has helped thousands of candidates over the years.

If they don't want a picket line, give the union a damn contract or at least NEGOTIATE IN GOOD FAITH!!!

Anyone who crosses a picket line might as well be a Republican