Agency thwarted in second attempt to silence employees public protests outside board members' homes, businesses
Grand Rapids, MI - For the second time in four months, a federal court has ordered The Rapid – the public transit system in Grand Rapids, MI - not to prohibit or interfere with the free speech rights of ATU Local 836 members working for the agency. The workers are protesting the proposed termination of their pensions, stalled contract negotiations, and fare increases they say harm riders.
The first ruling issued in August by the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan ordered the agency not to interfere with peaceful leafleting by off-duty ATU members on Rapid property that is open to the public.
This second injunction, delivered yesterday, enjoined the agency from “prohibiting or interfering with [Local 836] and their members’ direct action protests in public streets in front of residences and businesses, and speech at public meetings of [The Rapid] Board of Directors, and from imposing discipline on persons for engaging in such activities.” Rapid CEO Peter Varga, COO Brian Pouget, and all Rapid Board members, including Mayor George Heartwell and incoming Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, are subject to this injunction.
“We are grateful that the court saw fit to protect the Constitutional rights of The Rapid transit workers. After all, Grand Rapids is a part of the United States,” says ATU International President Larry Hanley, “The Rapid knows no bounds in their attempts the squash the free speech rights of these workers who are exposing their arrogant bosses’ greedy ways, including stealing workers’ retirements and jacking up fares on riders to reward themselves with pay raises.”
The ruling comes on the heels of the ATU confronting Mayor Heartwell at COP21, the global climate conference underway in Paris, France, and Varga outside of an American Public Transportation Association (APTA) meeting in Washington, DC.
“Local 836 will not be silenced,” says Local 836 President RiChard Jackson, “We will continue to protest this attempt to rob riders and push our workers into the ranks of the working poor. We will fight for as long as it takes to protect our livelihoods and those of our neighbors and riders.”
The Rapid has been engaged in an aggressive effort to muzzle their workers at all costs. After the agency earned their first temporary restraining and preliminary injunction from a federal court in August, management threatened “legal action” against employees who engaged in peaceful protest on public streets. That, coupled with subsequent, over-broad revisions to The Rapid Board’s public comment policy that could be used to prevent workers and riders from expressing their concerns, led the union to file a second motion for another preliminary injunction in October.
Another chapter unfolded in November, when The Rapid issued a new social media policy that workers say is meant to silence dissent online. Legal experts say the policy is so overbroad and open to interpretation that any complaints expressed on social media about The Rapid’s employment practices could be used to punish workers. The policy was unveiled just days after members flooded the City of Grand Rapids’ Facebook page to comment on an anti-union video released by Mayor Heartwell.