It’s Time to Organize
Earlier this year the lead singer of my favorite musical group, MAZE, Frankie Beverly died. One of my favorite songs by them was “After the Morning After”.
The Morning After
It’s the morning after in America and hopefully there will be no regrets by our decision.
In the aftermath of the U.S. election, I have been asking myself - Why did the majority of working families support an agenda and policies that I believe was not in their economic best interest?
There may have been reasons. Was it because misinformation spread to working people prevailed over the truth? Did division, fear, power, and money convince working people that they will have their backs? Are Americans afraid of electing a strong woman and especially one of color as President? I could list a few other reasons, but it seems one of the key issues for voters in this election was fears about the economy and inflation.
As one of the leaders of the ATU, I believe it is our responsibility to educate but also listen to our members. I say this because of the results of the U.S. election. In some places working people and our members supported candidates who have not voted to support transit funding, safety, unions, and working families in the past.
We can all be Monday morning quarterbacks and at the time of writing this column my Dallas Cowboys certainly need that. But folks, this is the morning after and the real question is what’s next?
What’s Next?
This is a challenge our members experienced or will experience in both countries. In Canada elections are coming, and we must be prepared for these same tricks.
What can we do? Organize.
We must organize our members to know and understand legislation and policies that affect their pocketbooks and our industry. We must do a better job of educating about what policies actually impact our pocketbooks and families. With social media and all the different platforms, misinformation, and propaganda are easily spread. This is where our challenge lies. How do we overcome it? We organize our members.
No matter what President or Prime Minister is in power the values and mission of our Union does not change. We must organize to fight for the rights of our members and their families. We must organize to fight for the freedom to join a union and for the right to collectively bargain. We must organize to fight for justice, equity, and fairness for all people. We must organize because divided we will fail.
In closing, I am reminded of another song by MAZE, “We Are One.”