Support MARTA Workers Right to a Union

Support MARTA Workers Right to a Union

Controversy within the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority

The construction of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s rail system began in 1975 and its first rail service took place in 1979. While construction of the rail system was taking place, a dispute between MARTA and Local Division 732, Amalgamated Transit Union was taken to the Supreme Court to decide if MARTA had the right to cancel their consent to compromise on a collective-bargaining agreement with the Union. The Union argued that because of MARTA’s choice to cancel the negotiation, they should lose all eligibility for federal funding. Prior to this cancellation, MARTA was in agreements with the Union, who negotiated wages and other conditions for a unit of MARTA’s employees. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 enabled local agencies access to federal assistance, and protected employees that were affected by this assistance. Because of this, MARTA workers wanted the right to a Union in order to be protected by the effects of the federal assistance that the rail system was receiving. Meanwhile in Poland, strikes spread throughout as “workers demanded reinstatement of laid off colleagues and wage-rises” (Nelsson). In doing so, a Union emerged in 1980 due to an agreement that was made between communist authorities and the strikers that allowed independent unions. Still in Atlanta, MARTA and the Union could not produce a new collective-bargaining agreement. To settle the dispute, the Supreme Court ruled that MARTA did have the right to cancel their consent to compromise on a collective-bargaining agreement, causing the Union to appeal. Overall, this item signifies the political issues surrounding MARTA during its construction in the early 1980’s, and how it connected to political issues around the world at that time period.

“Support MARTA Workers Right to a Union,” English 1102 Fall 2019, accessed November 19, 2019, http://mapping-nature.org/omeka2019/admin/items/show/6.

1980

“LOCAL UNION 732, &C. v. MARTA.” Justia Law, https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1983/39674-1-0.html.

Nelsson, Richard. “The Birth of Solidarity in Poland - Archive 1980.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Sept. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2019/sep/18/the-birth-of-solidarity-in-poland-archive-1980.

Political Button

English

Employees of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority