ATU International President John Costa joined the Northwest Conference Board in Winnipeg, the home of the 1919 General Strike, for a conference packed with the issues our members are living right now.
"Our members are facing real threats, from autonomous vehicles and AI that put good union jobs at risk, to violent attacks, to a transit funding crisis that could devastate systems across the country,” said Costa. “And at the same time, we’re organizing, we’re bargaining, and we’re winning. From historic legislative victories to new workforce development programs building the next generation of transit workers, ATU Locals across the Northwest are proving every day that this union is strong and we’re not backing down.”
From Local 1001 securing a voting seat on the RTD board in Colorado to new organizing drives to active contract campaigns from Phoenix to Vancouver, the Northwest Conference Board is a region on the move.
It’s fitting that the Northwest Conference met here. In 1919, Winnipeg’s transit workers were on the front lines of the general strike that shut down the city for six weeks and shook the continent. Workers walked off streetcars and buses to demand the right to bargain collectively and earn a living wage. That spirit didn’t disappear. It organized, and it’s still showing up in every contract campaign, every member who refuses to back down.
The work continues.