Silver Spring, MD – On behalf of the more than 200,000 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, AFL-CIO/CLC, in the United States and Canada – including members in Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery, Alabama – the ATU is sending its support and solidarity to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) brothers and sisters at Warrior Met Coal in Alabama who have been on strike since April of 2021.
"As you fight drastic pay cuts, hiked health care costs, exhausting schedules, and reduced safety standards, we stand by you," said ATU International President John Costa. "Since walking off the job in April, UMWA members have lived through arrests and blatant attacks, including company employees plowing through picket lines with their vehicles and unjust judicial actions by anti-worker judges. Despite this, the workers' determination and unity to continue their strike has inspired the labor movement across the world."
The ATU knows well about the power of strikes and labor solidarity. It was not too long ago at Cinder Bed Road MetroBus garage in Northern Virginia that ATU members at Local 689-Washington, DC, walked off the job for over 82 days – the longest transit strike in this region's history. Their strength and unity, along with support from the global labor movement, including the UMWA, won a fair contract and halted the outsourcing of public transit in DC's metro area.
In 2016, UMWA members saved Warrior Met Coal by taking pay cuts and helped them reach revenues of over $4.3 billion. The company's response to these sacrifices was forcing its employees to work unsustainable shifts with no days off.
"The ATU calls on Warrior Met Coal to stop mistreating its employees and bargain in good faith with their hard-working miners, including respecting seniority rights, ending the preferential treatment of nonunion contractors, and retaliating against strikers," continued Costa. "As fellow union members, we recognize the struggle to fight the repressive tactics against workers. We pledge the ATU's support and stand in unity with our brothers and sisters at the United Mine Workers of America on strike in Alabama."