To the Milwaukee County Transit System Administration and Drivers,
We write this letter as riders of the Milwaukee County Transit System and as representatives of the tens of thousands of students who also ride and pay for this service. A bus pass is purchased by thousands of people, not only students at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and Marquette, but also other community members who live and/or work in the city.
Summer classes at our universities, like other universities, are full courses that may meet for fewer days during the semester. Because of this, missing multiple days of class and study time at the library severely impacts students’ education and their ability to achieve success in the future. For many students, this is the last class that they need to take for graduation. If their grade suffers and they fail the class, they may have to stay an extra semester in school to finish at a high expense.
Those who are placed at the biggest disadvantage because of this work stoppage are those that truly need it most. It is the student who is not able to purchase a car or whose family doesn’t have an extra car or a car at all—the less wealthy, less privileged student—that gets hurt the most. Furthermore, both UWM and Marquette both have students who are unable to walk because of a disability they may have. This three-day stoppage affects their ability to get around at all.
Additionally, there are thousands of students at these universities that work summer jobs to help pay for their school, rent, food, and for many, familial expenses.
We urge the Milwaukee County Transit System and the drivers thereof to reach an agreement. UW-Milwaukee and Marquette students, as well as, our fellow community members are hurting as a result of this impasse.
An incredible 74% of UWM students remain in Wisconsin after graduation, and a large portion of Marquette students do as well. Whether a temporary home for some students or permanent for others, the City of Milwaukee holds a place in our hearts and we sincerely hope that both parties can come to an agreement.
Mike Sportiello, Student Body President, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Zack Wallace, Student Body President, Marquette University
I’m a UW-M student and I support The Unionized workers. Screw a bus pass or a three day loss off your use of a bus pass. This is people’s livlihoods we are talking about. And it isn’t JUST the drivers fault either. it is also MTS the ‘private’ non-profit managing group that isn’t being spoke about to the public. Abele is taking the brunt of this on his chin because he caused alot of this, but also the maging firm MTS did as well for accepting terms and basically trying to negotiate on behalf of Abele instead of representing the employees, the drivers, the mechanics, the administration. It was backdoor dealings all the way up to this deadline and then miraculously the local media outlets on television decided to cove3r it. The media left out MTS largely and has been pitting the bus riders, the county employees, Abele, the union workers, and the general public ALL against each other. MTS is coming out of this largely unscathed by the media thus far and that will lead to a worsening of the negotiations if this isn’t discussed in an open and honest manner. You will wind up with some very bitter veteran drivers and a bunch of Temp drivers who will make lots of mistakes. besides these workers on average work about 60+ hours a week with very bad break regulations. There is nothing wrong with them striking. What would you don if you were going to have about 20 hours cut from your weekly pay? What would you do if you were going to have to take a huge cut to the entire veteran unionized force just to make it ‘cheaper’ for the ‘private’ management firm (which I’m suspecting is peeling off funds at this point in the transactions) and that firm then is supposed to essentially BE what the ‘county’ could be. MCTS is controlled by MTS. MCTS is ‘owned’ by the county, but the personel of MTS are not county workers. We are not receiving the whole story and for UW-M and Marquette to BOTH whine about this is preposterous especially during the summer. This is just another warrantless attack on those workers. STOP ATTACKING THE UNION WORKERS, BLAME CHRIS ABELE, BLAME MTS!!! The negotiations have been going on since early April and yet this was the first the media really covered and of course they had to skew it. Don’t blame these Union Workers they are fighting for rights that we all should be fighting for and all UW-M and Marquette apparently want to do now is bash the Union. I AM A UW-MILWAUKEE STUDENT AND I “SUPPORT” THE AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION WORKERS AND THEIR “COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS”!!!! You care about your ride on the bus but not the people who are driving? You care about getting from point A to point B but not about the mechanic who kept the bus running? You care about the bus being there in a timely manner, but you don’t care about the administration that organizes it all? SUPPORT THE UNION AND THEIR STRIKE!!!