Local Officers Advocate for Our Members at ATU 2024 U.S. Legislative Conference
In June, the 2024 ATU U.S. Legislative Conference commenced in Washington, DC, with over 170 Local officers from across the U.S. and members of the General Executive Board. The attendees had the opportunity to hear from a distinguished group of speakers, lobby on Capitol Hill, and take part in sessions addressing state legislative issues, health and safety, transit worker assaults, autonomous vehicles, COPE, and other critical topics.
Making History
“Welcome to our more than 170 Local leaders. This is the biggest Legislative Conference in our Union’s history. We have a huge election this fall in the U.S., the most important one ever,” said International President John Costa in opening the conference. “As you are going to hear over the next three days, we’ve got major issues going on. Over the past year, our Union has had great success with funding and safety. That’s because we have a President who is a true friend of the ATU. We’ve achieved a lot together with this Administration. But that can all change in November unless we come together with a plan and protect what we’ve got.”
Over the course of the conference, attendees heard from Interim U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA), Rep. Chuy Garcia (IL), Rep. Nikki Budzinski (IL), Rep. Marc Veasey (TX), and Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ). All spoke passionately about their advocacy on behalf of the ATU and public transit and their role in ensuring that the United States is a union nation.
Knowledge is Power
Engaging sessions were conducted on State Legislative issues featuring Local leaders talking about the challenges and successes in pushing for pro-transit and pro-union initiatives and legislation in their states and informative presentations on federal legislation. Other topics included the Bus of the Future, Health and Safety Regulatory Updates, including the recent FTA Final Rule on Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans (PTASPs). In addition, there was a presentation on Transit Worker Assaults, including breakout sessions where our Locals spoke out about their firsthand accounts of attacks and violence against our members.
There also was a sobering and informative panel discussion on Autonomous Vehicles and a session on Zero Emission Buses (ZEB), mandates, and federal grants.
High Stakes of the 2024 U.S. Election
ATU Political Consultant Clem Balanoff delivered an important presentation on the stakes of the 2024 election in the President’s race and the Senate and House races that will determine the balance of power in Congress and how our Union will be mobilizing our members to get out and vote for pro-transit, pro-union candidates.
COPE
State and Local Political Coordinator Emma Cleveland did a presentation on COPE and the increase in contributions across our Union. “I want to congratulate you on answering the call to boost our member’s participation and contribution to COPE,” said Costa. “But we still have work to do since many of our members still don’t contribute to COPE. This is a critical election, and we need all our members to contribute to COPE.”
Another highlight of the Conference was the presentation of the 2024 Political Activism, ATU COPE Activism, and ATU COPE awards to Locals and individuals who went above and beyond for political action in their states.
ATU Political Activism Award Winners:
The ATU Political Activism awards to the Locals going above and beyond for political action in their states went to Local 1447-Louisville, KY, ATU Pennsylvania Joint Conference Board, Local 689-Washington, DC, Local 1300-Baltimore, MD, ATU California Conference Board, ATU Louisiana Legislative Conference Board, Local 714-Portland, ME, Local 1764-Washington, DC, Local 1433-Phoenix, AZ, Local 382-Salt Lake, UT, Local 1001-Denver, CO, ATU New Jersey State Council, ATU Florida State Legislative Conference Board, and Local 589 Boston Carmen’s Union.
ATU COPE Award Winners:
The ATU COPE Activism Awards went to Local 689-Washington, DC, Local 1555-Oakland, CA, Local 1345-Reading, PA, Local 1546-Baton Rouge, LA, Local 26-Detroit, MI, Local 1464-Tampa, FL, Local 1342-Buffalo, NY, Local 168-Scranton, PA, Local 268-Cleveland, OH, Local 580-Syracuse, NY, and Local 819-Newark, NY.
The COPE Chairman’s Awards to the Locals with the highest dollars contributed went to Local 519-La Crosse, WI, Local 1575-San Rafael, CA, Local 282-Rochester, NY, Local 618-Providence, RI, and Local 726-Staten Island, NY.
The COPE President’s Awards for the highest percentage of active members enrolled in COPE went to Local 1209-New London, CT, Local 1575-San Rafael, CA, Local 282-Rochester, NY, Local 694-San Antonio, TX, and Local 726-Staten, Island, NY.
The Patriot Award for the member contributing the highest amount went to Local 726-Staten Island, NY, brother Tommy Mason.
Congratulations to all the awardees! You make our Union proud and our democracy strong.
ATU Hits Capitol Hill
On the last day of the Conference our members went to Capitol Hill to meet with their Members of Congress. Before hitting the halls of Congress, International President Costa led our more than 170 members on steps in front of the Capitol Building with rallying calls of “Our Voice, Our Power!”
From Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) to Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), to Rep. Greg Cesar (D-TX) our Local leaders visited more than 200 Members of Congress. Among the key issues we lobbied for were increased transit operations funding, the dangers of autonomous vehicles, the perils of microtransit, the passage of the PRO Act to modernize labor laws and allow more workers to join a union, and other issues.