Engaging Members and Riders for Political Action A M A L G A M AT E D T R A N S I T U N I O N
ENGAGING MEMBERS & RIDERS Over the past few years the Amalgamated Transit Union has been engaged in a successful campaign to mobilize our members and riders across North America to get involved in political action and fight for more and better transit in their communities.
INNOVATIVE COALITION BUILDING The roots of this innovative campaign were planted in the mid-1990s when ATU International President Larry Hanley served as
head of a small ATU local on Staten Island. Faced with threats of service cuts, Hanley launched a first-of-its-kind campaign to organize riders and the community to fight back. The effort paid dividends as funding was secured for better equipment, service cuts were averted, and fares were reduced, which boosted ridership. Hanley took this idea a step further when he assumed leadership of the International in 2010. He staged “boot camps� for training transit rider organizers. More than 100 members of ATU, other unions and community organizers took part in this inaugural training. This program
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has been expanded over the last few years to be more comprehensive to arm ATU locals, members, riders and the community to become more politically active. From Cleveland, OH, to Denver, CO; Fall River, MA, to Seattle, WA; Atlanta, GA, to Bloomington, IN; and beyond, ATU members have been holding rallies, leafleting events, GetOut-The Vote drives, “ride-alongs� with elected officials to engage riders and the public to get involved politically in their communities.
10,000 MEMBERS TRAINED! INNOVATIVE MEMBER TRAINING More than 10,000 of our members have taken part in innovative trainings designed to learn new strategies to empower members to get involved, make our locals stronger, and prepare for the battles ahead. These programs have engaged our membership and galvanized our riders into a potent political force that has an impact on local and national battles, elections and campaign. AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION | 3
“We’re here today not just defending the transit status quo, instead we are fighting to give Americans the type of public transit they deserve.” — ATU President Larry Hanley
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‘I’M IN’ ELECTION CAMPAIGN Through our “I’M IN” campaign, ATU locals across the country formed an army of thousands of activist members in their communities to mobilize our riders in 29 states. For the 2012 elections ATU held it first-of-it’skind “Rocking the Transit World” international webcast jointly broadcast from Cleveland and Denver, cities in two key battleground states. The webcast, seen live by tens of thousands of members, kicked off a five-week campaign conducted across the country to mobilize riders to elect and re-elect pro-transit and pro-working family candidates. This effort included a successful campaign in which members drove voters to the polls for early voting and on Election Day in key states.
10,000 MEMBERS DISTRIBUTE MORE THAN 1 MILLION LEAFLETS More than 10,000 ATU members reached out to more than one million passengers to reelect President Obama and other transit-friendly candidates including Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Chris Murphy and countless others.
Union of 2012”. The magazine applauded ATU saying, “With their aggressive progressive approach to fighting for local and regional services, the 190,000 members of ATU are a force to be reckoned with in debates about economic and social justice.
GRASSROOTS COALITION BUILDING Building on this success ATU continued its efforts in 2013 and 2014 at a the grassroots and national level In Charleston, SC, ATU members joined with local advocates in a transit rider voter outreach campaign at transit during the special congressional election contest between Mark Sanford, R, and Elizabeth Colbert Busch, D. Organizers spoke with over 2,500 riders.
VOTER EMPOWERMENT TRAINING The coalition staged voter empowerment training sessions that expanded beyond the urban core to areas where transit is scarce or nonexistent. The group also participated in a North Charleston Earth Day celebration, and staged a daylong transit support-building event in Beaufort. While the effort to elect Colbert Busch ultimately proved unsuccessful, the investment in pro-transit coalition building and voter education will continue to reap benefits in the future.
2014: YEAR OF TRANSIT ACTION As a result of these efforts, ATU was named Nation magazine’s “Most Valuable International
ATU dubbed 2014 the “Year of Transit Action” with members mobilizing across the country to promote public transit in their communities. AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION | 5
CAPITOL HILL RALLY, CONGRESSIONAL VISITS, NATIONAL CALL CONGRESS DAY The effort culminated with a rally on Capitol Hill with transit workers and advocates from more than 40 states galvanizing support for more, better and safer public transit. After the rally, supporters stormed Capitol Hill offices to advocate public transit funding. In conjunction with the rally, ATU conducted a National Call Congress Transit Action Day that resulted in thousands of riders calling their elected officials in Washington, DC, and district offices across the country.
800,000 LEAFLETS Our activists are continuing to hold local rallies, leaflet events; arrange bus rides with elected officials, and sponsor other activities to highlight public transit. Thousands of ATU members have handed out more 800,000 leaflets to riders in their communities, in the process.
MIDTERM ELECTIONS ATU activists are now gearing up for the midterm elections. They will be working with area coalitions in their areas to elect transit- and laborfriendly candidates to office at the local, state, and national levels.
ONLY THE BEGINNING In Fall River, MA, for instance, transit workers joined with riders and seniors as part of a successful campaign to preserve evening bus service, which was going to be cut.
And this is only the beginning. ATU will continue to build transit and union activism to educate and inspire new generations of union leaders who will re-invigorate the labor movement and usher in a new era of progressive activism.
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Lawrence J. Hanley, International President Javier M. Perez, Jr., International Executive Vice President Oscar Owens, International Secretary-Treasurer AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION 5025 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20016 Tel: 202-537-1645 • Toll Free: 1-888-240-1196 • Fax: 202-244-7824 www.atu.org