Dear WSWS :

Please pass on to Mary Coleman the congratulations of this supporter on the reinstatement to your job with back pay. I believe you, Mary, when you say this was the hardest thing you've ever done in your life. Your victory is an inspiration.

It is not that the arbitration judge granted you justice, proving that 'democracy' works. Far from relying on the courts, you took up a determined campaign among your fellow workers, in collaboration with the SEP. It was out of fear and recognition of the effect of your campaign on the consciousness of workers that the judge retreated.

The government and union bureaucracies, and the capitalists they serve, depend on deluding the masses with the myth of the fairness of their system. This myth is harder and harder to maintain as the inequality of wealth becomes ever more obscene. You have shown how a single worker, fighting consciously, can defend yourself against all the forces of the class enemy lined up against you, not least of which is your own union's leadership.

The war is far from won, as further attacks on school bus drivers, such as privatization, are already under way. Your struggle has shown the way forward for workers everywhere.

In solidarity,

JB

10 July 1998

See Also:
Victimized Detroit school bus driver to be reinstated
[10 July 1998]