Your Message Media

Strengthening the voice of workers

In the post-Reagan era, American workers have had to sharpen their communications skills to survive in the dominant media frame of “what’s right for business is right for America.” Working with Local 1555 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the U.S. and Canada, Your Message Media is providing a full array of communications support for front line workers of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. In 2004 BART was named the #1 transit system in the U.S. by the American Public Transportation Association, and the members of ATU 1555 are determined to keep that ranking. Their motto: “Safety and Service First!”

ATU 1555 Interactive Web Campaign

In the era of web 2.0 Your Message Media is helping the labor movement expand its communications capacity beyond traditional corporate media. A highly interactive web site created by Your Message Media’s digital design team, along with other interactive tools such as Twitter and Facebook are helping the front line workers for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system withstand a withering anti-union onslaught from executives and management.

 

Check it out at www.realbartworkers.org.

Op-Ed: BART executives passing the buck

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
By Jesse Hunt

Two things you can count on with BART: The trains usually run on time, and every four years at contract time BART's executives strive mightily to scapegoat BART workers for management's mistakes and pass the buck to riders.

The current round of buck passing has been more vigorous than ever. In April, BART announced a "grim budget shortfall" and proclaimed that it could only be addressed with higher fares and substantial cuts for BART's labor force. Then, last Friday, the BART Board of Directors asked the governor to "deny any request that a BART union may seek from you for a cooling off period" should a contract agreement not be reached by June 30.

Op-Ed: BART Expansion/Use It or Lose It

Wednesday, December 3, 2003
By Mary Anne O'Rorke

This Thursday, rides on BART between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. will be a Dutch treat — free, actually, courtesy of the Dutch-owned online bank, ING Direct. While the sponsor hopes you'll be drawn to its banking services, we hope the promotion will inspire a whole new group of riders to discover the service and safety of our modernized BART system — especially new service

to SFO.

The future of Bay Area mass transit may depend on it. Public opinion polls show repeatedly that the No. 1 concern of Bay Area residents is transportation. In a recent poll released by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, BART expansion showed up as the top transportation improvement people would like to see — 50 percent higher than the next choice, wider freeways.

Yet news outlets have reported that BART's expansion to San Francisco International Airport has not drawn the number of riders expected. Lack of patronage on the new $1.5 billion line, especially at the $76 million Millbrae "mega-transit" center, has prompted speculation that service could be cut — including closing two of the four new stops.