This interview was recorded during a BRU demonstration at the offices of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Monday 11/10/03 at about 4pm. Chanting bus riders can be heard in the background throughout the interview.
This interview was recorded during a BRU demonstration at the offices of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Monday 11/10/03 at about 4pm. Chanting bus riders can be heard in the background throughout the interview.
The interview was conducted and recorded by a BRU member and supporter. It is available to be aired, in whole or in part, with or without credit to the interviewer, and permission for such airing is hereby granted. The interviewer can be contacted for further information at brusupporter@moraluniverse.org. The interviewee Manuel Criollo can be contacted at 213-387-2800.
Topics covered:
0:02 - Description of demonstration in progress and introduction of Manuel Criollo, the interviewee.
0:32 - Why is the MTA willing to prolong this strike when the economic costs suffered already are acknowledged to be an amount that is much higher than the amount of money that would be required to settle it?
(Criollo responds that the MTA is continuing to collect money from its funding sources while saving money by not operating the bus system, enabling it to bank that money for other uses).
1:44 - Why is the MTA ignoring its responsibility to provide public transportation by unnecessarily prolonging the strike?
(Criollo responds that because the MTA is not elected it has too little accountability to the public, and therefore has shown little commitment toward serving the public interest. He states that the BRU is demanding an elected MTA Board.)
2:25 - What is the influence of rail contractors at the MTA, and how might that be working against a resolution to the strike?
(Criollo responds that the MTA's desire to build rail projects is playing a central role in the MTA's intransigent attitude toward its striking workers. The MTA is running out of money for its extravagant rail projects, and rather than cutting those projects it prefers to save money by abandoning its bus riders and attacking the wages and benefits of its workers.)
4:04 - What can members of the public do to force the MTA to resolve this strike?
(Criollo responds that the main pressure should be applied to County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the chair of the MTA, who has a liberal Westside base that presumably would not approve of his anti-labor stance and his abandonment of the MTA's responsibility to provide public transportation for the area. He also supplies the BRU's telephone number - 213-387-2800 - for those who are ready to become more directly involved.)
4:51 - Can you address attempts to pit bus riders against the MTA's striking workers?
(Criollo responds that the MTA is being dishonest when it claims that the suffering of bus riders is caused by the striking union members. Criollo instead places responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the MTA Board.)
See the BRU web site and send an e-mail to the MTA at:
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