International President John Costa was on the picket line in Baton Rouge, LA, today to fire up our Local 1546 striking members who walked off the job after the Capital Area Transit System (CATS) imposed a final contract offer and refused to address our members serious safety concerns.
“On behalf of our 200,000 members across North America, we are with you in this fight,” said Costa to the fed-up workers. “Hold this line! We’ll be out here to help you keep this line going as long as it needs to. Unfortunately, we have no other choice but to go on strike. If they don’t respect you, we’re not going to respect them. At the same time, we’re going to do whatever we can to get you the deal you deserve! They have no right to dictate what they want to do to you and control us and give you no rights. That’s why we’re out here. So, we’re not going to give up on this line right? If we don’t get it? SHUT IT DOWN!”
After visiting the strike line, Costa met with Johnathan S. Hill, President of the CATS Board of Commissioners along with Michael McClanahan, President of the NAACP Louisiana State Conference and Louis S. Reine, President of the Louisiana AFL-CIO to discuss ending this strike for the sake of our members and riders. It was a productive meeting on behalf of our Union that we hope will bring us closer to a deal.
Thank you to our brave members for fighting on the right side of history!