Muni Un-Reform is Back - Call Supervisors To Urge a NO vote

and then make them accountable for fixing muni

Rescue Muni is a wholly-owned susbsidiary of the Committe on Jobs, a lobby for SF's private sector elite.

Instead tagging along with the politically worthless downtown stooges' outfit Rescue Muni, let's get together with other riders and drivers at this event:

Join your fellow riders and drivers of public transit to organize for a social strike against fare hikes, service cuts, and attacks on MUNI workers.

Sunday June 26th, 7pm to 10 pm, at Cellspace,
2050 Bryant Street (cross street 18th) in San Francisco's Mission
District.

WE CAN’T PAY -- WE WON’T PAY!
A wildcat social strike on all MUNI lines, where drivers don’t collect fares and riders don’t pay them, will stop attacks on working people
dead in their tracks!

$1.25 to $1.50? NO WAY!
CITY-WIDE FARE STRIKE ON MUNI!
REFUSE TO PAY!

Town Hall Meeting for Drivers and Riders of SF's MUNI and other Bay Area public transit agencies

Join your fellow riders and drivers of public transit to organize for a social strike against fare hikes, service cuts, and attacks on MUNI workers.

Sunday June 26th, 7pm to 10 pm, at Cellspace,
2050 Bryant Street (cross street 18th) in San Francisco's Mission
District.

WE CAN’T PAY -- WE WON’T PAY!
A wildcat social strike on all MUNI lines, where drivers don’t collect fares and riders don’t pay them, will stop attacks on working people
dead in their tracks!

$1.25 to $1.50? NO WAY!
CITY-WIDE FARE STRIKE ON MUNI!
REFUSE TO PAY!
Bosses and politicians’ power to mess up our lives is limited by our willingness to play along with their game…

MUNI bureaucrats want to raise fares, cut service, and fire MUNI operators. But large-scale on-the-job action, where MUNI drivers and riders act together, can stop managements’ attacks on working people.

City politicians say MUNI faces a $57.3 million dollar deficit. They don’t mention that mass transit is a free ride for bosses and billion dollar
corporations. MUNI exists to carry hundreds of thousands of wage-earners to our places of wage-slavery for corporate America. The labor power of MUNI riders produces billions in profits for big corporations downtown, yet the majority of downtown businesses don’t pay a dime for this
service.

The erosion of our working and living conditions will go on and on…
BUT WE CAN STOP THIS ATTACK RIGHT NOW WITH MASS RESISTANCE!
MAKE THE RICH PAY FOR WHAT THEY SQUEEZE OUT OF MUNI!


FARE STRIKES WORK
In Italy in the 1970’s, working people fought back successfully against inflated prices for goods and services. One part of this was on-the-job wildcat strikes by bus and streetcar drivers, acting together with riders, where transit operators “forgot” to collect fares- and riders refused to pay them. Actions like this create an immediate bond of solidarity between transit system employees and working class commuters. We can do this now in San Francisco.

To keep us under control, they have to keep us afraid and divided. WHEN ALL OF US ACT TOGETHER WE WILL HAVE ALL THE POWER IN THIS SITUATION.

BEFORE THIS GOES INTO EFFECT :
Talk with MUNI bus and trolley drivers, train operators and station agents. Spread the word about how riders and MUNI workers can act
together against city government, MUNI management, and their big business bosses.

MUNI employees are organizing now -- see the SF Examiner's cover story from Friday June 17th. Many MUNI operators have expressed interest in this action. Talk with other riders -- help spread the word. Organize your local bus stop for a city-wide fare strike!

THE DAY THE NEW MEASURES TAKE EFFECT:
Be friendly and polite to MUNI personnel—and board MUNI without paying. Ride for free. The economic impact will force management to retreat!

DRIVERS- DON’T COLLECT FARES
RIDERS- DON’T PAY FARES
For more info and organizing material contact us at:

socialstrike [at] riseup.net

http://www.socialstrike.net

415-267-4801

The bus and light rail service is the same as ever, with the "rush" hour buses and trains packed like sardines and the less used lines having 20 minute or more waiting times.

PROP E DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO IMPROVE MUNI. It was a Chamber of Commerce anti-democratic, anti-labor con game to remove the control of public transit from the public's elected legislative body, namely the Board of Supervisors, and put it in the hands of a bunch of lackeys of the mayor, who is currently sitting there via election fraud, paid for by the Chamber of Commerce. This Municipal Transportation Agency SHOULD BE ABOLISHED and the Board of Supervisors should run Muni directly. The coordinator of Muni should receive no more than the Board of Supervisors receives in salary which is $90,000 to $100,000 a year, a reasonable salary for someone capable of doing the supervisor's job and supporting a family. Burns, the outgoing Chamber of Commerce lackey, receives over $200,000 a year and is not worth two cents.

Tom Ammiano supported Prop E, demonstrating yet another reason why he should not be in office. The fact that he is now proposing an amendment allowing some, but not all, MTA positions to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors, does not mitigate the damage. The MTA should be abolished, and the Board should run Muni directly.

RUNNING MUNI MEANS:
(1) Setting up a Financial District transit district so as to tax the profits of the large corporations in that area, who benefit the most from Muni, which delivers the labor force of San Francisco to that area, by the thousands.

(2) Setting up a City income tax on all who either reside and/or work in San Francisco and make over $200,000 a year from all sources, including but not limited to salary, profits, interest, dividends, and capital gains. Considering we have billionaires and millionaires living in San Francisco, just a 1% tax on that crowd would solve not only all of Muni's financial problems, but all of San Francisco's financial problems.

(3) Putting buses that run every 10 minutes on all cable car lines, that is the entire distance of Powell Street and on California Street from the Embarcadero to Van Ness, so that we an enjoy modern transportation that carries 50 or more people, has wheelchair access, stairs that can be lowered for people with bad legs and heavy packages, lots of room for people with packages, babies and strollers, and is always warm and dry all year round. The toys for the tourists, cable cars, can remain for the tourists, although they must have electric powered cable car turnaround mechanisms so as to save the knees and backs of the cable car workers and the City money in Workers' Compensation payments.

(4) ELIMINATE ALL PUBLIC TRANSIT FARES. This will prove that San Francisco is serious about putting transit first and getting rid of the congested car scene in the downtown area.

(5) INCREASE BUS AND LIGHT RAIL SERVICE. With all the money we could receive from the above 2 tax proposals, we could and should increase bus and light rail service on all lines, especially those which are currently packed like sardines.

(6) INCREASE THE WAGES OF ALL CITY WORKERS TO A MINIMUM OF $20 PER HOUR PLUS ALL BENEFITS. The minimum wage should be $20 per hour and with the above tax increases, the City could and should be all workers no less than $20 per hour plus full coverage with no co-payments for medical coverage for all city workers and their dependents. The bus drivers are among the low wage workers, with a handful making good money by working overtime. The overtime work must end.

(7) DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO ELIMINATE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. This will go a long way toward saving San Francisco saving lots of money as these thugs make at least $80,000 a year plus benefits, often more than $100,000 a year, plus overtime. We do not need police; we need social services, health care, public transit and the like.

NOTE REGARDING THE SCHOOL BOARD: The Board of Supervisors has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SCHOOL BOARD. The voters elect all members of the School Board. The San Francisco School District is not run by the City and County of San Francisco. The Board of Supervisors can only authorize giving bond money to the schools after the voters approve giving that money to San Francisco's public schools. The schools are a direct reflection of the bankrupt social order in which we live, namely capitalism, and Rescue Muni and its patron, the Chamber of Commerce, have only one agenda: Promoting the primary law of capitalism, namely maximization of profit. It is the private profit system that must be eliminated.