Student Three

Dr. Alexandria Lockett

English 103.XX

November 10, 20XX

Dear Dr. Lockett,

In the beginning, a 7-10 page research paper seemed impossible. I didn’t know where to start or what community to do. I had to really study what James Paul Gee was saying in the Introduction to Discourse Analysis to get a better understanding on what was expected of me on this paper, and what a Discourse community was. In class activities and discussion really helped me fully understand how vital language is in a community. My first topic was Roman Catholics; it was something random. I didn’t know much about them, but being a Christian I felt that I could relate to some aspects of the community. I respect your personal thoughts on the Roman Catholic community and fully understand how you feel towards them. I definitely found it a blessing more than a curse, because writing this paper about ATU felt awesome! In the beginning of my drafting stage, I don’t know what I was writing, nor what I was talking about. A 10 page paper on Catholics would just be boring. Once I declared ATU Local #732 as the topic of my Discourse Analysis Portfolio and started writing, I felt as if I was on a ball. I took advantage of the outline models you posted on the wiki, and I feel that it helped organize my paper. Thoughts were flowing and I rolling out onto my paper. I really enjoyed analyzing ATU Local #732; it was a perfect topic for me.

Sincerely,

Student Three

Amalgamated Transit Union: Unity through language

Introduction

Although there are few unionized companies in the south, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732 is a community that still holds their firm belief to fight for workers’ rights. A Transit Union’s purpose is to act on behalf of transit workers via negotiating collective bargaining contracts and representing their members in disagreements with the company’s management. The Local Union also represents the special interest of its members within all levels of government, courts and legislatures. The ultimate goal of the Union is to protect jobs, by ensuring that all workers are entitled to fair labor practices such as decent work hours, benefits, pensions, wages, and safety within the workplace.

I am a rare insider to the group, being that both my mom and dad are members of ATU. Currently my father is the President of the Local and before he was elected President back in 2013, he served as Vice President of Maintenance for 10 consecutive years. Throughout the decade I have been able to experience and see lots of history being made. I have knowledge on what makes ATU Local #732 a community. I’ve analyzed the language, rituals, history, and practices of the local that characterizes it as a discourse community. A Discourse community is a group of people who share common interest. Inside Discourse communities, there is one important element: language. Throughout this paper, I will show how the acts of language characterizes and constructs a person’s identity as a member of ATU Local #732.

Location and Members

ATU Local #732 protects the workers of MARTA, Veolia Transit, and Gwinnett County Transit. However, the Union’s office is located on the fourth floor of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Building. The IBEW Building is located on the Western side of Atlanta on Pulliam Street, minutes away from the Georgia Dome, Braves Stadium and other attractions here in Atlanta. The IBEW auditorium is where the Locals’ monthly meetings are held. The auditorium is just feet away from the main building, making it convenient for members and elected officials. On Tuesdays there are two meetings to accommodate workers who may work night or day shift.

The local is comprised of approximately 4,000 members, including retirees (ATU.org). In order to be a part of the Union, members are required to pay monthly dues. The price of dues vary, depending on the employer, and employee data base. Minorities are heavily represented in the Local Union. Women and Blacks make up majority of Local #732. It is a shocking discovery, due to the fact that women weren’t represented in labor unions until the early to mid 1900’s (Shmoop Editorial Team, "Gender in History of Labor Unions”). Another astonishing demographic is that blacks make up an overwhelming majority of this Local. This is astonishing because Unions were highly discriminative until the 1940’s, only representing white workers (Shmoop Editorial Team, "Race in History of Labor Unions").

Location & Members Continued: Hierarchy of Local #732

On the local level there is a hierarchy of elected officials in the Union. There is an executive board which ultimately makes the decisions that impact the local. There are also members who assume their normal transit job but are trained to protect and speak for other members when dealing with workplace issues against the company. All executive positions are elected, whereas committees are appointed.

President/Business Agent: The Presidents role is to direct staff on assignments such as workplace issues, and appoint all committees. He/she also has the role to approve all financials, handle political lobbying in the best interest of the Union, and control media that pertains to the Local Union. The President also acts as a chairperson in all of the locals meetings (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 10-11).

Vice President of Maintenance: Manages all grievances and arbitrations pertaining to rail and bus maintenance (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 12-13).

Vice President of Transportation: Manages all grievances and arbitrations pertaining to rail and bus transportation (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 13-14).

Financial Secretary: The role of the Financial Secretary is to process and keep track of all purchases for financial audits, and collect and manage dues. He/she must keep a correct and true account between the local and its members and cannot make disbursements without order from the President (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 14-15).

Recording Secretary: Keeps all minutes and records for all negotiations, meetings, and any business transactions within the local (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 16).

Shop Stewards: Their role within the local is to process all grievances and represent employees with any disputes with the company (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 29-30).

Board Members: Their role is to supervise and manage the Union officers. There are a certain number of board members appointed from each represented property (Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 By-Laws, 17-18).

Key Terms

Grievance: An official statement of a complaint of a wrongful act, or an act that has been believed to be wrong.

Arbitration: A more casual form of court between two parties. Also a quicker route to a decision in a dispute.

History

Amalgamated Transit Union was founderse in 1892 as Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America (A History of the Amalgamated Transit Union, 3). It came about in the early 1800’s when the horses that pulled “omni-buses” were treated better than the men that drove them (A History of the Amalgamated Transit Union, 4-5). The men worked nearly 20 hour shifts a day and received as little as a dollar a day, even if they were forced to work additional hours. Alongside the bare minimum pay, workers had no benefits, pension, vacation time, job security, nor healthcare. This drove workers to stand together and demand fair treatment by organizing strikes against the company.

ATU is the largest Transit Union in the United States and Canada. In the early years Unions were highly segregated and wasn’t until 1945, when more than 500,000 African-Americans were members of CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) Unions (Shmoop Editorial Team. "Race in History of Labor Unions."). ALF and CIO jointed in 1955, becoming the largest segregated Union in America (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, "Merger of the AFL and the CIO"). ATU Locals are scattered all over the United States, with the International Headquarters in Washington D.C. There are International Titles as well. The International is comprised of a President, Executive Vice President, Secretary Treasurer, and 18 Vice Presidents, whom are elected every three years at ATU’s International Convention (ATU.org). Amalgamated Transit Union is affiliated with The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, also known as the AFL-CIO and The CLC, which stands for Canadian Labor Congress. Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732 is the largest local in the Southern states.

Key Terms

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO): The largest federation of Unions in the United States, representing more than 11 million workers. Mostly all unions in the United States are affiliated with the AFL-CIO. (AFL-CIO.org)

Canadian Labor Congress (CLC): Founded in 1956, the CLC is a center of national trade unions to which the majority of Canada’s labor unions are affiliated with. (CLC Website)

Collective Bargaining Contracts: Contracts for workers that are agreed to regulate working conditions through negotiations between the company and the trade union.

Striking: The refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest, typically in an attempt to gain a concession or concessions from their employer.

Rituals and Practices

Members of the ATU community meet on the first Tuesday and Thursday of the month. Tuesday meetings are open to all members, However Thursday meetings are specifically for Board Members. In order to attend meetings, you must be in good-standing, which means to be up to date on dues. Monthly Union meetings have been a tradition for hundreds of years. The purpose of the Union Meetings are to update members about what is happening financially, politically, and other events that may be going on within the Union. Also meetings are a time to ratify contractions, vote for grievances/arbitrations and for new changes that may be necessary for the Local. Union meetings are the sanctuary for “talk” within the Union. The “talk” that occurs here will be discussed later in the paper.

One practice that ATU Local #732 take is rallying. Alongside monthly union meetings, rallies are an extremely vital space for “talk” within the community. ATU has made slogans to where the audience know that they are ATU Local #732. Executive officials, with approval from the President, set a date, time, and location for the rally. Normally the Union will provide transportation by renting vans. The tools that the local use for the rally are often times, but not limited to Signs, Posters, T-shirts, Buttons, and Mr. Hump. Signs and posters display the slogans made up by the local for a particular event and/or the slogans all Locals within the Union use. Mr. Hump is the 20 foot camel that travels all over this nation to hundreds of ATU rallies. He represents the “big-wigs” whom act as a hump, getting in the way of good jobs. Although the camel is harmless, when politicians see him, they become frightened because he has become a symbol of unity and power within Union. Members who choose to rally may be allowed off work, without any penalties depending on their occupation and its circumstances. Once ATU arrives in their Local #732 t-shirts with signs in hand, they march back and forth making their point, which always involves the act of chanting.

.

For Example, Local #732 recent campaign was against MARTA CEO and Board Members. The company wanted to outsource mobility operators and buses to save the company money, although the CEO makes $345,000 a year. His salary is almost as much as President Obama’s, and certainly more than CEO’s salaries at other Transit companies. Throughout the campaign, numerous of rallies occurred at MARTA’s headquarters building, the offices of MARTA’s Board Directors, Political events, and MARTA train stations in the Metro Atlanta Area. The purpose of rallying at these certain places, was to gain attention from the public and the elected officials of MARTA. Throughout the campaign, ATU used tactics that was guaranteed to gain attention of the company, and ultimately get them a better contract.

What drives the social language of this community are Labor Issues. Most of the talk between members occur at the monthly Union meetings where lots of speech acts take place. According to James Spradley and Brenda Mann, speech acts are “the way any utterance, whether short or long, is used and the rules for its use” (252). During the meetings a mix of complaining, and praising take place. For Example in a Union meeting a retiree talks about the good work ATU has been doing. She stated, “Under the leadership of our President, this local has stood together to make a change, In Solidarity, Jane Smith.” In her statement she demonstrated what it means to be a union by using words such as “solidarity” and “together” (ATU Local #732 Monthly Union Meeting, 6 November 2014). Jane’s purpose was to praise the local for their commitment to stay unionized in the fight for better rights within the workplace. By using those words, she claimed her space as a member in the ATU Local #732 community.

The purpose of ATU is to protect workers’ rights and fight for equality in the workplace. In order to achieve this Amalgamated Transit Union uses slogans nationwide to encourage members and the working class community. For example, “Fired Up, Ready to go” is used throughout the Union to get members rowed up. It symbolizes strength and unity in the Union by promoting all members to get hype and go out there to protect the rights as workers. “We move this city” is a phrase used here in the Atlanta to show the significance of the Unions role within the Transit System. MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is the main Transit System in Atlanta, covering 48.1 miles of railroad, 1,000 route miles daily move approximately 500,000 of riders a week (itsmarta.com). Over half of MARTA workers are in fact members of ATU Local #732. Solidarity and Amalgamated are words that are carefully chosen to reflect the values of the Union. The reason of why they are called Unions is because their whole goal is to unite workers for one cause, which is to protect their rights.

ATU Local #732 is included in a plethora of “C”onversations. James Paul Gee states in his excerpt of Introduction to Discourse Analysis, “I refer to all the talk and writing that has gone on in a specific social group or in society at large around a major theme, debate, or motif as a “Conversation”(22). ATU is involved in a plethora of political “C”onversations such as outsourcing. ATU’s main focus is to keep jobs for working families. As I mentioned earlier, here in Atlanta ATU has had a constant battle with MARTA about outsourcing. ATU sees jobs for families, whereas MARTA’s “big wigs” sees more money in their pockets which leads to more control over MARTA which is keeping the rich even richer. Gender and Race play a part of the “C”onversations within Unions. It was once looked down upon to have a woman and/or a person of color apart of the Union. The civil rights and feminism movements played an important role in integrating the system.

Solidarity: Unity or agreement of feeling of action, especially among individuals with a common interest.

Amalgamate: Unite to form one organization.

Hump Day: The day to unite to remove the “hump” that is in the way of jobs for the middle-class working individual.

ATU is a major part of the community here in Atlanta. Alongside protecting fair labor standards, they are partnered with United Way and host a plethora of events throughout the year. They also volunteer to take days off to ride on buses and connect with riders during the week and weekends. They ask questions, such as, “What could they do to improve?”, “What part does public transportation play in their lives?”, and “What are some things that ATU can do in order to ensure that transit remains public and affordable for the average working citizens.

What does it mean to represent workers? It means to take a stand for what is right by fighting for fair working standards, while supporting the community who relies on buses and trains daily. Just a few years ago ATU and their lobbyist worked in efforts to destroy House Bill #264. That bill would have done away with Public Transportation here in Atlanta. The people hold the power to make change within the community. Through hard work, dedication, and unity ATU has helped change the lives of thousands here in Atlanta.

Works Cited

"A History of the Amalgamated Transit Union." Atu.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

Curtis, Howard. Monthly Union Meeting. Amalgamated Transit Union Local #732. IBEW Auditorium, Atlanta, GA. 6 November 2014.

Gee, James Paul. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Theory and Method. London: Routledge, 1999. 20-42. Print.

"Local 732 - ATU History." Local 732 - ATU History. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

"MARTA Facts." Itsmarta.com. MARTA, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Gender in History of Labor Unions." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Race in History of Labor Unions." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

Spradley, James P., and Brenda J. Mann. "How to Ask for a Drink." Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology (1988): 76-84. Print.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. "Merger of the AFL and the CIO." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.

United States. Amalgamated Transit Union. Constitution and By-Laws. 2004. Print.