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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;">Dear Friend,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>This is a Third
Draft statement on the danger of a strike shutting down our buses, trolleys,
and LRV's. It will be acted on at the next meeting of Save Our Transit, chaired
by Linda Warman, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 6:30, at United Cerebral Palsy, 4638 Centre Ave. at
Neville St.,
in Oakland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>You may think this
draft is too one-sided.<font style=""> </font>Please bring
your concerns on Aug.6, or contact us in advance, or both.<font style=""> </font>This emergency draft is based on our best
understanding of the situation.<font style=""> </font>Please
especially contact us with factual correction before we final consideration
Aug. 6 at the S.O.T. meeting Aug. 6.<font style=""> </font>Our
research is limited - we are just a group of transit riders and have no staff.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>Contact Save Our
Transit at 412-683-0237, 412-708-7262, <a href="mailto:jon@jonrobison.org"><a href="mailto:jon@jonrobison.org">jon@jonrobison.org</a></a>,
or 154 N. Bellefield Av. #66, Pgh 15213.<font style="">
</font>(Not an attachment because some users can't/won't open attachments.<font style=""> </font>Apologies for any multiple postings.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>Please forward
this.</div>
<br>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;">THIRD DRAFT <font style=""> </font>- 7/24/08<font style=""> </font><font style=""> </font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>A PAT strike
looms - maybe as early as Sept. 15.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>State
fact-finding is underway, and it is not clear whether serious negotiations are
underway.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>The biggest
issue, we hear, is that retirees receive healthcare for life paid for by PAT. Of
course, everybody should have quality health care.<font style=""> </font>But PAT says that no company's retirees get
that as a contract benefit, not any more.<font style="">
</font>Anyway, says PAT, we can't afford it.<font style="">
</font>But is PAT reneging on a promise to long-time employees?<font style=""> </font>And if PAT got ALL the money from the drink
tax, as originally stated, wouldn't that cover the $20 million in savings from
a new contract assumed in PAT's just-approved 08-09 budget?<font style=""> </font>Whatever the fact-finder decides, unless both
PAT and the union members can accept the result, a strike is likely.<font style=""> </font><font style=""> </font></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font><font style=""> </font><font style=""> </font>Even
assuming PAT is right on both its arguements, management must look for possible
actions to help the workers, especially actions which don't add significantly
to the transit system's financial burdens.<font style="">
</font>PAT should not just sit back and expect the workers to accept that
substantial concessions are inevitable.<font style="">
</font>(Note that under PAT's contract, the retired union members can vote on
any new contract.) <font style=""> </font>For example, the
retirees could be allowed to elect one member of the PAT board.<font style=""> </font>That would be a gesture, but it would cost
PAT nothing and provide an added source of free expertise and experience.<font style=""> </font>For another example, County Executive Dan
Onorato could support strongly the ABC Health Care bill that passed the Pa
House, and even support a second bill to do more to ameliorate the retirees'
loss of health care benefits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>Allegheny County
Executive Dan Onorato is responsible.<font style="">
</font>The Port Authority (PAT) Board of Directors serve at his pleasure.<font style=""> </font>He must stop holding up the county's share of
the additional funds we got from Act 44 until he gets contract that he
likes.<font style=""> </font>Holding PAT funding hostage while
a contract is supposedly being negotiated is ridiculous, since he controls PAT.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>We hope that the
County establishment does more than just wait for a strike, then go to Common Pleas Court
and ask for an injunction. to prevent "irreparable harm."<font style=""> </font>That's what happened in 1992, in the last
transit strike.<font style=""> </font>Yes, a strike would
cause "irreparable harm" -- to people who rely on transit to get to work or to
their doctor, to employers, and to the transit system.<font style=""> </font>The ‘discretionary riders,' those who have a
choice, will go elsewhere.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;"><font style=""> </font>Let's demand that
both sides negotiate seriously, and try to find a solution.<font style=""> </font>Will anything we do make a difference?<font style=""> </font>We should try.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;">Love and Peace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size:12pt;">Jonathan Robison, Linda Warman</div>
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