Larry Hanley, an international vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, flew in from Washington today and gave a pep talk to striking bus drivers in the church parking lot next to DeCamp headquarters, ahead of the first talks between the union and management, scheduled for 1o a.m. today in the offices of attorney Desmond Massey in Roseland.
“Your union brothers and sisters are supporting you in this strike,” Hanley said, noting that the 120 striking DeCamp drivers were backed by 200,000 ATU members and millions of members of the AFL-CIO.
Hanley told Baristanet that DeCamp’s vice president of operations, Gary Pard, runs his bus line using a “plantation mentality.”
Hanley told workers that Pard’s style is to try to bully workers, punishing them for advocating for themselves. “The beatings will continue until morale improves,” Hanley said.
Hanley appeared to be talking about official DeCamp behavior and not fights that broke out during the strike last Friday. He specifically mentioned, and called illegal, DeCamp’s unilateral reduction of the drivers’ health care benefit. Such a change requires a contract, he explained.
In the background, strikers muttered, “He’s a coward. He’s a bully.”
Hanley called DeCamp’s public silence an indication that the union was speaking the truth. “They have nothing truthful or good to say,” he said. “If the union was lying in their statements, DeCamp would be speaking up.”
In an interesting side note, Millie Ruiz, a driver on the 32 route, said that she has been in direct contact with her passengers by text. “Those are my people,” she said. “We’re very close. I feel for them. They’re going through some hardships.”
As workers prepared to re-form their picket line, local union spokesman Jorge Maldonodo told them: “Keep marching. Keep spirits up.”
Meanwhile, with the August vacationers back for the daily commute, conditions on NJ Transit’s Monclair line grew more crowded. The picture above is from Glen Ridge commuter Ted Bongiovanni.
We were on the 918 from Bloomfield after dropping our daughter off for pre k. Â Definitely crowded today. Â Picture shows passengers in the vestibule to avoid crowded aisles.
Right! DeCamp should abandon “Plantation Mentality”. It should adopt a “Government Mentality”, give the Union what it wants and raise fares.
He should be apologizing to thousands of commuters he’s managed to screw over. This is nothing more than a selfish temper tantrum by a group of very spoiled brats. If you don’t like the job well trying getting another one in this lousy economy.
The strike is an insult to all the good people of New Jersey. Most of us have not gotten raises. Most of us have 401k’s rather the defined benefits contributions. Most of us do not get offered $1,000 free of strings. Most of us have to pay for our health care.
Thanks to Mr. Hanley’s creepy behavior my husband and I are out $50 so far and counting. I sincerely hope that ultimately comes out of his personal pocketbook. Drive the bus and stop whining.
DeCamp is THE worst form of mass transit that I have ever had the misfortune to use. Its only positive feature is the convenience of the route taken. And that is saying something, seeing how I previously used NJTransit. The drivers are some of the most surly and rude people I’ve ever subsidized. If I talked to my clients the way they talk to their meal tickets . . uh, I mean, “passengers”, I’d be unemployed right now . . . as they deserve to be.
In my opinion, they don’t deserve what they already get, which is probably more than most to begin with — namely, a contract or the expectation of one.