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From the May-June 2005 issue of Union Democracy Review #156
Insurgent victory in ATU 241
The Amalgamated Transit Union placed its Local 241 under trusteeship back in October 2002 immediately after Pete Fionda (a long-time union member and founder of Transport Workers for a Democratic Union) and two other insurgents had just been elected delegates to the convention. (This is the local that represents employees of the Chicago Transit Authority in Illinois.) These duly elected delegates were subsequently denied their seats. Fionda reports that an international vice-president appointed delegates in their place. (Federal law requires the secret ballot election of delegates who, in turn, elect international officers.) The trusteeship and the removal of delegates triggered a chain of events which has shaken things up enough in the local to bring an insurgent victory in the recent election.
The International held elections for officer positions on May 9 and is getting ready to lift the trusteeship on July 1. The International also proposed an amendment to 241's bylaws creating a new position of Assistant Business Agent. The proposed amendment provided a unifying issue for all insurgent candidates running for office and they campaigned for members to vote in favor of it. The amendment passed. A huge victory for Fionda and Dan Hrycyk who have been campaigning to get the position created since 2001.
Fionda reports that insurgents won 15 of the 31 positions available, giving them a strong voice on the executive board. The new position of Assistant BA for maintenance, for which Fionda ran, and the position of president were decided by run-off on May 23. Both Fionda and Darrel Jefferson (the insurgent candidate for president) won by large margins.
See also:
Quest
for democracy at ATU convention
ATU Election rule
nixed
ATU bus
drivers win two week strike
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