Did anyone else notice that the Arizona Republic's online addition is missing a major story? That's right, although the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 has officially been on strike against Veolia Transportation (the management company contracted to provide bus service in Phoenix) since 12:01 am Saturday morning, the Arizona Republic's online addition hasn't printed one word on the story. Now why would the state's leading newspaper choose to ignore a story that affects tens of thousands area residents?
My guess is that since Veolia Transportation is the factual villain, the anti-union and anti-labor Arizona Republic doesn't want to report on it. If the Arizona Republic reports on the strike, it will have no choice but to point out that ATU 1433 and its members are in the right. It will have no choice but to show that Veolia Transportation has been negotiating in bad faith with the union for the last 20 months while also trying to secure a sweetheart contract with the City of Phoenix.
It will also have to show that if bus service in the Valley wasn't privatized, the union wouldn't have been able to strike, under state law. That's right. Because the striking workers are employees of Veolia Transportation and not employees of Phoenix or Tempe, they are not covered under state laws barring strikes by public employees. That's right, privatization of a public service has allowed for this massive disruption to the lives of tens of thousands in the Valley.
But the Arizona Republic doesn't want to report that type of story. It only wants to paint unions and labor as the villains and this strike doesn't allow for that. To bad that the Arizona Republic is doing such a disservice to the people of Arizona.
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