The CTA is Laying Off Poor Workers...Again!

The CTA celebrates hard workers by firing them
To hell with CTA riders! Let them sit in filth!

To hell with CTA workers! Let them give labor and be punished!

To hell with our poor Black and Latino communities! After you pay off your debts, take some more!

This is what the CTA mismanagement says to the people of Chicago through their failed, inhumane and evil "Second Chance" Program.

In the midst of unreliable service due to horrific working conditions, why is the CTA laying off hard-working, reliable, experienced workers next month? 

Moreover, why are they not making them into Full-Time Permanent employees with essential benefits such as dental, short-term disability, pension, paid vacation, holiday pay and clothing allowance?

Not only are they laying off workers—while whining about not having enough—but they are offering these exploited humans a cynical "Congratulations, you're fired!"

You are scheduled to attend a mandatory Next Stop Celebration on Thursday, October 26th 2023 at 567 W. Lake from 8:30am-12:30pm. This will not be your last day in the Second Chance Program. You are to report to work as scheduled until the end of your shift on December 29th, 2023.  The Next Stop Celebration will celebrate your completion of the program and provide useful tools to assist you with your journey toward future gainful permanent employment. There will be an exit interview immediately following the celebration workshop.
It makes no sense! We are hemorrhaging riders. Workers are fleeing almost as fast as they are hired. 
 
Why fire good workers?

Answer: Because it saves money and makes the CTA look good. 

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? 
 
Simply put, they get nearly free labor to do dangerous, vomit-inducing work and it looks good because the humans they exploit would be exploited elsewhere. But the CTA gets funding to package it up and make it pretty. 

This is nothing new. 
 
In addition to my public condemnations of the Second Class Program at my blog, myself and other CTA workers in the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition protested a similar "Celebration" last year. The CTA mismanagement was so scared that they surrounded us with squads of police and paddywagon (for 5 peaceful protesters). 
 
Why be scared? Just stop exploiting these men and women!
 
Make them Full-Time Servicers and Janitors! They proved their worth over and over—some for up to four years in the Second Class Program! 

It is time for the CTA to stop disrespecting the riders and workers! 

If you agree, please sign this petition: https://chng.it/bLCSqncST6
 
We deserve good, Full-Time jobs and the riders deserve clean trains and buses! No more layoffs! Bargain with the Amalgamated Transit Union Locals 241 and 308 to establish the Second Chance Program as a permanent path to Full-Time jobs and abide by the working conditions as agreed upon in 2018!

If you agree, please sign this petition: https://chng.it/bLCSqncST6

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