Transit Union considers accepting Romanian subway unit as affiliate

Like other U.S. unions, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) calls itself an "international union" because it has several local chapters in Canada. Now it's looking at going truly international. ATU leaders are considering the feasibility of accepting a union that represents subway workers in Bucharest, Romania, as an affiliate.

Four leaders of that union visited Portland-based ATU Local 757 for four days in mid-July. The union, Uniunea Sindicatilor Libere Metrou (USLM), was founded with AFL-CIO assistance in the immediate aftermath of the 1989 revolution that toppled Communist dictator Nicolai Ceauscescu. Today its 5,200 members earn roughly $200 a month, twice the national average for Romania.

USLM President Ion Radoi, who headed the delegation to Portland, also heads a federation of 14 unions in the transportation center, and serves in the country's parliament as a deputy in the ruling Social Democratic Party. He has visited the United States several times and attended the 1998 and 2001 ATU conventions.

"I have trust in trade union movement solidarity," Radoi told the NW Labor Press through a translator at the home of Ron Heintzman, president of Local 757. "Together we are more powerful." Local 757 has had a "sister union" relationship with USLM since 1997, and last May the ATU international secretary and three leaders of Local 757 spent 10 days visiting the USLM leaders in Romania.

Though the USLM differs in various ways from U.S. unions - it owns hotels where members can stay on vacation and funds numerous social activities like martial arts, dance, and sports - it also faces familiar threats, such as privatization.

Several foreign companies have a toe-hold in the Romanian transportation sector, including Westinghouse and the French companies Bombardier and Alstom, the latter of which has some U.S. operations.

Though the Bucharest subway system is not under consideration for privatization, other areas, like bus service, have been privatized, on the advice of the International Monetary Fund.

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