President/Business Agent

April 5, 2010

Keep America Moving

This is our first news magazine for the year 2010. The year 2009 was certainly filled with ups and downs. Often I am asked by members, friends, and even family if this job as Union President is all I thought it would be. Or I’ll get asked if you had the chance to do it all over again would I? The answer is simple. Yes, this job is more than I ever thought it would be and Yes, I would do it (run again) in a heartbeat. There is a deep satisfaction you get when you do this job and you’re able to help fellow sisters and brothers.

This job as Union President is a test in so many ways. It will test your patience, knowledge, your inner toughness, your critical thinking skills, and, yes, even your heart. It is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback or a back seat driver but I know that the decisions I have made are decisions I can easily live with. I realize I cannot and will not always please everyone but, that doesn’t mean I will stop trying.

I can tell you that being your Union President is so much easier when the Union is united. And let me say this brothers and sisters, now is the time for us to be united. We all know of the crisis which looms on a daily basis with money and funding. This is not just a Chicago crisis. This is a nationwide problem. Unions all over America have come under attack and are expected to bail out our employers and to give concessions to help fix a problem we did not create! No one should permit the CTA to balance its budget on your back. This isn’t the first crisis in transit funding and it won’t be the last.

Wall Street screwed up and screwed everyone. Greed has nearly destroyed this great country. Unions must stand together and not give in to the few who have actually had it too easy for too many years. As the ATU joins with the TWU and the UTU to lead the fight for federal funding which will preserve our jobs and help the transit industry grow as it should in these hard economic times, we as members must stand united and do all we can to get  the public funding to help keep our jobs. This is a great challenge and there is nothing I as your President love more than a good challenge.

Today, Local 308 is on sound ground financially. You can see that after going through Marilyn’s excellent report. This was not easy nor was it accomplished overnight.  In order to get to this point, we had to do it as a team. There were some tough and unpleasant decisions that had to be made. And, while as your President I have had to make some tough calls, being financially sound is the first step towards being able to take on the even tougher challenges that lay ahead.

ATU Local 308 is leading the way in a postcard campaign as other Locals from across America join in daily. We have joined forces with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray La Hood, and Local 308 is now a proud member of--along with the International Unions of the ATU, TWU, UTU and others-- a coalition to “Keep America Moving”. Remember members: “America relies and travels on our wheels”!!

In Solidarity,

Robert Kelly
President of Local 308
Email Address: rkelly@atu308.org