Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Minneapolis Transit Union Refuses to Transport Arrested BLM Protesters

The transit workers of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 100 issued a statement saying that they refuse to aid police by transporting protestors. These workers stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of Daunte Wright by police in Brooklyn Center, MN.

Allison Noel

April 14, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share

Daunte Wright, only 20 years old, was brutally murdered by the police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, a suburb just outside Minneapolis, on Sunday afternoon. In the midst of the Derek Chauvin trial, this police murder was yet another brutal reminder that the police murder and terrorize Black people and that Chauvin isn’t just one “bad apple.” 

Following Wright’s murder, the police left his body lying in the streets for hours. Protesters gathered to mourn and have continued to protest every day since. A curfew has been instituted, and the already militarized area has become even more militarized. Armored cars are driving through the streets and the National Guard are stationed in front of places like Walmart to protect private property. They are even calling on public transit buses to be used to transport protesters. 

Left Voice is hosting a panel with Bessemer Amazon worker and Black liberation activist, a member of SEIU Drop the Cops and Robin D.G. Kelly, author of Hammer and Hoe to Black struggle and the labor movement.  Sign up and RSVP to the Facebook event.

But, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 won’t fall in line. They put out a statement today saying that bus drivers should not be called on to transport protesters. As the statement reads, “ATU Local 1005 applauds our members’ stand and continues to support our members in the struggle for Black Lives Matter”. 

This is part of the tradition from the summer’s Black Lives Matter movement, where bus drivers all over the country refused to transport protesters who were in the streets protesting against police terror. Union locals around the country issued statements such as this one, standing on the side of Black people and all oppressed people against the police. 

This situation highlights that Daunte Wright’s murderer, who was president of her union local, has no business in the labor movement. Cops have no place in unions. They aren’t workers — they harass and kill workers. Conversely, workers have the power to fight the police at the workplace. They can refuse to transport them, as the ATU has, and they can shut down the ports on the West Coast like the ILWU did last summer. Workers have the most powerful weapon — the strike — when the police harass and murder Black people like Daunte Wright.

The ATU statement ends by saying, “We continue to stand in solidarity with our members as we did last summer during the George Floyd uprising when our members refused to transport young arrested protesters, who are justifiably angered at the injustice of racism, oppression and violence of the inequality inherent in the system we live under.” Solidarity with the transit workers and the protestors demanding justice for Daunte Wright. 

Facebook Twitter Share

United States

Image by the Economist, Satoshi Kimbayashi

The Debt Ceiling Agreement is an Attack on the Working Class and on the Planet

Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy’s deal to raise the debt ceiling is a handout to the military industrial complex and an attack on the working class and the planet. Rather than just raising the debt ceiling, a relatively standard practice that allows the U.S. to pay the bills for spending that already happened, this debt ceiling deal caps discretionary spending on everything but “defense” and fast-tracks the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Federal Charges of Political Activists Show the Racist and Repressive Nature of the Capitalist State

Black nationalist organizations in the United States have been the target of what is a clear, politically motivated attack by the FBI in an attempt to silence voices of dissent against the U.S. government.

Tristan Taylor

May 17, 2023

Biden Agrees with Trump on Immigration

With the end of Title 42, Biden has put in place even more restrictive measures against migrants seeking asylum in the United States. As refugee crises get more extreme, so will the state’s anti-migrant policies.

Sam Carliner

May 12, 2023

Police Violently Repress Protesters while Jordan Neely’s Murderer Walks Free

On Monday, NYPD officers brutalized people gathered at a vigil for Jordan Neely, who was murdered last week in the subway by a vigilante.

Molly Rosenzweig

May 11, 2023

MOST RECENT

Image in The Stand

SCOTUS v. Labor Movement: The Court Rules Against Workers

The Supreme Court issued a ruling which aims to weaken strikes. It is no coincidence that this comes at a time when unions have massive support among the general population. The labor movement must fight back against the state's attacks on our collective power.

Luigi Morris

June 3, 2023

This Pride Month, There is Hope In Fighting Back. Pride is in the Streets.

Pride is in the streets. It is the history of our community, it is the history of our struggle. Let us do them honor.

Ezra Brain

June 2, 2023
A rainbow display at the supermarket Target during Pride Month 2022.

Target Doesn’t Care about LGBTQ+ People

At Target and Anheuser-Busch, policies of inclusion and diversity have clashed with profit ambitions.

Pablo Herón

June 2, 2023
University of Michigan campus

Campus Cops Intimidate Grad Workers in Ann Arbor, Michigan

We publish here a statement by the Graduate Employees' Organization detailing and condemning the repressive tactics of the University of Michigan administration in response to the strength and resilience of striking grad workers.

Left Voice

June 1, 2023