Is a Mass Transit Strike by Teamsters on Election Day in a Major City Legal?

[McCamy Taylor]

I have posted three times about something that happened in Fort Worth, Texas this election that is hardly likely to make the national news since it did not affect the outcome of any important races.
Here is the last DU post. It has all the pertinent info and links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2969737&mesg_id=2969737

The short, short story is the day before the election, the Teamsters Union, which supporter Gov. Rick Perry (R) in Texas called a strike of Fort Worth City Bus drivers. On election day buses were running several hours behind and were packed, with people sometimes being forced to get off. Fort Worth has a lot of poor, elderly and disabled who ride the bus and vote Democratic. Early voting in the city was way up from 2002 and total voting was projected to be up from 2002, but the final vote was actually lower than 2002. Nearby Dallas County went for Bell (Dem), Tarrant County went for Perry (R). The union leaders suddenly ended the strike a few days after the election, presenting a contract which they did not give union members adequate chance to vote down. The new contract netted no new benefits over the old one. Now, they are not enforcing the section of the contract that says that strikers will be rehired, so union members have filed federal charges. A union member is quoted as saying that the strike does not seem to have been planned for the best interest of the bus drivers.

To me, it looks as if the Teamsters planned the strike in order to hinder Democrats in Fort Worth from getting to the polls. The local Democrats have not said a word, but I do not expect them to complain. This is a labor union we are talking about.

My concern is what if this were to happen in 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio. Or, what if Hillary and Rudi were battling for New York's electoral votes and New York City had a sudden mass transit strike on election day? The Teamsters are one union that will support Republican candidates. I dont know how many cities they control mass transit in. I do not know if there are any laws in place to protect the rights of voters who might find themselves stranded at home on election day with no way to get to the polls.

Anyone have any ideas? The potentials for abuse seem vast. And dangerous. And Democrats are not going to want to address this unless they are pushed to the wall.

[Dr.Phool]

1. Tell them to join the United Transportation Union!

International Railroad and Mass Transit (Bus and commuter rail) Union.


www.utu.org


Who would have ever thought the Teamsters were crooked?