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Video: TWU Contract Fight Demonstration at MTA Board

TWU takes action at the MTA Board Meeting

With one month go to before contract expiration, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen addresses the MTA Board of Directors. Also speaking are rank and file transit workers, and Harry Lombardo, President of the TWU of America.

Dramatic Showing at MTA Board Meeting Underscores Union’s Demand for “Fair and Equitable” Wage Increases

Content from MTA Board Meeting Action

TWU Local 100 brought its campaign for a fair contract in dramatic fashion to the MTA’s December Board meeting today (Dec. 14, 2016). With a little more than a month left before expiration of the union’s contracts for TA/OA and MTA Bus members, the Local’s top leadership and more than 250 rank-and-file members packed the MTA Board’s meeting room to capacity, with an even larger overflow crowd in the lobby of MTA headquarters at 2 Broadway.

Many members carried intense poster sized images of co-workers who were beaten and slashed on the job into the Board meeting and held them high so Board members would see the kind of daily pressures and dangers facing transit workers. Members also produced a TWU version of the Union Square Subway Therapy Wall (where New Yorkers stuck thousands of post-its to express their post election feelings) by taping letter-sized “post-its” on the lobby wall at 2 Broadway. The “post-its” contract demands included messages like, COLA’s Don’t Cut It, Don’t Touch My Health Benefits, Improve Our Longevity, and many more.

The Local 100 action was bolstered by a powerful show of national TWU solidarity, as TWU International President Harry Lombardo, the entire International Transit Division staff, and numerous officers from other TWU Locals in the the tri-state region stood side-by-side with Local 100 President John Samuelsen, Secretary Treasurer Earl Phillips, Recording Secretary LaTonya Crisp-Sauray, Vice Presidents Tony Utano, Pete Rosconi, JP Patafio, Kia Phua, Nelson Rivera and Richard Davis, and numerous Division officers.

Local 100 Ramps Up Contract Fight with Television Ads

TWU Local 100 today ramped up its campaign for a fair contract with a powerful new advertisement running on television and being distributed widely on social media. The 30-second piece features photos of transit workers doing a range of duties to ensure New Yorkers get to their jobs, homes and other destinations safely – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“You’ve heard ‘it’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it,’ ” the video’s narrator states. “Well, that somebody is the Transport Workers Union here in New York City. Whether it’s blizzard, blackout or bomb scare, they get out and do their jobs so you can get to yours. Still, every 36 hours a transit worker is assaulted on the job, and chances are pretty good while you’re rushing to work a transit worker is receiving medical attention. They deserve a fair increase for their dedication to the dangerous work they do.”

The video also features still photographs of transit workers who were brutally assaulted while serving the riding public – including photos the MTA refused to post in its system, making the bogus claim that workers demanding raises is “political.” The television ad is the latest “six-figure” installment in Local 100’s multi-pronged campaign to secure raises greater than the 2% budgeted by the MTA.

“We want the public to know that we are proud of the service we provide, but also that these are not easy jobs,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “They are physically and mentally stressful. They are dirty and dangerous. Too-often, they are straight-up deadly. Transit workers, and their families, deserve for this reality to be recognized in their paychecks. We are turning up the heat, and will continue to escalate our fight, until that happens.”

Last week, 10 privately-owned buses wrapped with an ad featuring transit workers who were brutally beaten while serving the riding public began looping through Manhattan – passing MTA headquarters dozens of times a day. The wrapped-buses mimic the ad the MTA rejected for its bus and subway system. TWU Local 100 has slapped the MTA with a federal lawsuit for violating the First Amendment and the rock-solid American right to free speech. Local 100 also is running radio ads in the NYC area.

The Tragedy of Danny Boggs

BY PETE DONOHUE -- A weeping widow and her three children - just 13, 9, and 5 years old - walked slowly behind the coffin as it was being guided down the aisle of a small church. They were wracked with grief. They were in shock, stunned and exhausted. Their eyes were fixed forward, almost riveted, as if they were imagining how their lives would unfold without the man who had been the center of their world. That scene - from the funeral of Trackworker Danny Boggs in 2007– came to mind again earlier this month upon hearing that the surviving members of Boggs’ family were in a Manhattan courtroom.

More than nine years after a subway train struck Danny Boggs on an express track at the Columbus Circle station, the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his widow, Bernadette, had finally advanced to trial. Danny Boggs, 41, was setting up flagging for a construction project when he was killed. A General Order was supposed to keep trains off that express track. But MTA supervision delayed implementation - and then failed to communicate the delay to Boggs, an MTA investigation found. A dispatcher sent a train right into what Boggs must have thought was a safe work zone. He stepped from a narrow “clear-up” area directly into the train’s path. It’s a damning series of facts. Unfortunately, the civil court jury wasn’t allowed to consider any of them.

Under state law, employees and family members who are eligible for Workers Compensation payments after injury or death can’t sue the employer. That includes MTA workers and their families. Bernadette Boggs’ lawyer took another approach. He sued New York City. NYC technically owns the land beneath the MTA subway system and as landlord should be held liable, the lawyer claimed. NYC failed to ensure there was a safe work environment for Boggs, he claimed. NYC, however, doesn’t have anything to do with subway operations, and lawyers pursuing such wrongful death lawsuits legally are forced to narrow their arguments against the city to one issue: lighting. The jury voted 5-1 that the lighting was substandard - but wasn’t a primary cause of Boggs’ death.

Boggs grew up in the city but moved as an adult to the town Brewster in rural Putnam County. It’s easier to raise a family up there on a Track Worker’s pay. I attended his funeral in Brewster as a member of the press. I was the transit reporter for the New York Daily News at the time. Before I started the transit beat, I suspect I was like most subway riders, including the jurors in the civil court trial. I didn’t know about the all the work happening behind the scenes to maintain and operate a subway system that carries millions of daily riders. I didn’t realize how dangerous that work is and how often it takes place with the threat of live train traffic and the electrified third rail. I didn’t ponder the possibility that a transit worker reporting for the night shift tonight might not make it home to his family tomorrow.

The Boggs’ lawsuit wasn’t successful in that it didn’t result in financial damages but hopefully it increased, even just by the smallest margins, the public’s understanding of what it means to be a transit worker.

We Sue the MTA Over Free Speech Rights

TWU Local 100 on Sunday filed a federal lawsuit against the MTA for rejecting bus and subway ads highlighting how frequently transit workers are assaulted. The MTA’s refusal to sell Local 100 advertising space in the transit system violates the right of free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment, the lawsuit states. The ads are part of Local 100’s campaign to secure raises for the 38,000 men and women who operate and maintain the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and subway system.

“We want the public to have a better understanding of what it’s like to be a transit worker,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “We move over 8 million rides each day, providing this vital service to New Yorkers, but we pay a heavy price in blood.”

The rejected ad depicts four transit workers who were assaulted on duty, including a pummeled Bus Operator in a neck brace and Bus Operator with a bloodied face. “Every 36 hours, a transit worker is assaulted on the job,” the advertisement states. “We deserve a wage increase for our sacrifices.” The contract between the MTA and Local 100 expires Jan. 15. Approximately 250 bus and subway workers are assaulted a year, according to the MTA’s own data.

The authority rejected the ad in November, claiming its content was not permitted under a policy the MTA board adopted in April 2015. That policy – which has never fully been challenged in court - prohibits ads, which “express a political message, including …an opinion, position or view point regarding disputed economic, political, …or social issues…” Local 100 strongly disagrees that a poster about worker assaulted on duty, and the desire for better wages, is political in nature. Regardless, the subway is clearly a public forum where political content is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The MTA said as much in the weeks following the election of President-elect Donald Trump. It allowed hundreds, if not thousands, of riders to post political opinions and messages on the walls of the Union Square subway complex, including calls to abolish the Electoral College and ban ‘ free prison labor.’ The postings also including messages urging riders to take political action and contact their elected representatives in government.

MTA Compelled to Make Track Safety Rule Changes

Under intense union pressure, the MTA has been compelled to make unprecedented track-safety rule changes to prevent another tragedy like the line-of- duty death of subway Construction Flagger Louis Gray Jr. on Nov. 3, 2016.

Gray was on a curved track setting up yellow warning lights for a construction project that was about to get underway when a G train came around the bend and struck him. Gray’s co-workers, Jeffrey Fleming, was seriously injured but survived. The tragedy exposed serious, life-threatening flaws in the MTA’s safety protocols. The G-train operator had no idea that Gray and Fleming were up ahead when he left the nearest station. He couldn’t stop in time when he came upon the two men on the tracks between Fort Hamilton Parkway and Church Avenue stations.

The MTA balked at TWU’s demands for new safety measures, so the union forced the dispute into emergency arbitration. The MTA has now agreed to suspend train traffic when flaggers are setting yellow warning lights out in advance of a construction project on curves with limited visibility and other extremely dangerous areas. (sections of track where there are no safety niches for a transit worker to quickly find refuge should a train be coming) “This is a big win for the safety of New York City transit workers,” Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “Past efforts to get the company to even slow the trains down were extremely difficult. Now, the trains must not only slow down but completely suspend service and this is unprecedented.” Flagging lights are set up to warn approaching trains that workers may be on the tracks ahead and to proceed with extreme caution.

After Gray’s death, the MTA issued a bulletin with regulation changes that were too weak and amounted to nothing more than “nibbling around the edges,” Samuelsen said. Local 100 took the matter to emergency arbitration. After an all-day hearing on Friday Dec. 2^nd, both sides, along with the arbitrator, signed a legal document adopting the new protocols halting trains in certain circumstances. “It’s a travesty that another transit worker lost his life on the job,” Samuelsen said. It’s also a travesty that this matter had to go to arbitration. The MTA should have done the right thing in the immediate aftermath of this tragedy.” The NTSB, which is investigating the accident, approved of the new protocols Tuesday. The MTA has scheduled a 24-hour “safety stand down” starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday, December 7th. During that time, all non-emergency track work will be suspended so workers can be educated on the new regulations.

It's Time to Nominate: Transit Hometown Heroes Awards Open

Each year, the New York Daily News showcases the outstanding work of our members -- TWU Local 100 represented transit workers -- in a special section in the paper and a gala awards dinner at the Empire Ballroom in Manhattan. Celebrity presenters like Liz Cho of WABC-TV and NY1's Pat Kiernan partner with transit workers and tell their stories. But first, you have to nominate them! Click here for the awards rules, and nominate yourself or a co-worker today. We are the unsung heroes of New York City -- and if we don't tell our own stories, often no one else will. Nominees are transit workers who have gone above and beyond to help our fellow New Yorkers. You know who you are!

Union Submits Bargaining Demands to the MTA

At the conclusion of Tuesday's large rally outside MTA Headquarters at 2 Broadway, President John Samuelsen and top Local 100 leadership submitted our formal bargaining demands to MTA Director of Labor Relations Anita Miller, in the lobby of 2 Broadway. You can read the text of the main table bargaining demands here.

Massive Rally Sparks Contract Kickoff at 2 Broadway

TWU Rallies at 2 Broadway for a Fair Contract

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Content from Contract Kickoff Nov 15

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Over seven thousand TWU Local 100 transit workers took our contract demands to the street in front of MTA headquarters at 2 Broadway, projecting our key issues directly onto the facade of the building with the aid of an “illuminator.”

Local 100 President John Samuelsen addressed the large crowd, as members blasted air horns and waved signs from every division in the Union. He was introduced by TWU International President Harry Lombardo, who told the story of the recently settled TWU/SEPTA strike in Philadelphia and endorsed the Local 100 team as expert and seasoned as we go into our contract fight. Samuelsen declared that it’s time for transit workers – who toil in an extremely dangerous environment – to be fairly compensated for their work at a time when the MTA is carrying a surplus and on-the-job injuries and assaults have been increasing. Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips articulated the dangers we face in his speech, documenting the many fatal accidents to transit workers in the last decade. Recording Secretary LaTonya Crisp-Sauray MC’d the event, introducing all of our Vice Presidents and the other speakers, and leading the huge crowd in chants and song.

More coverage in The Chief:

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Construction Flagger Louis Gray

TWU, NTSB Investigating Louis Gray Tragedy

As we continue to mourn the on-duty death of Construction Flagger Louis Gray early last Thursday, the investigation into the events leading up to this tragic accident is ongoing.

A TWU Local 100 team of safety representatives, led by Secretary Treasurer Earl Phillips, has been working with a number of agencies, including the federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to reconstruct what happened, why it happened, and what must be done to insure that it never happens again. The Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) and the Public Transportation Safety Board (PTSB) are also participating in this important inquiry. This is the first time ever that the NTSB has taken the lead role in an investigation involving a track fatality at New York City Transit. We welcome their presence here, and our TWU safety team is working closely with their safety experts to identify deficiencies in the safety protocols.

The establishment of flagging protection is an extremely dangerous task. Once a protective work zone is established, flagging, itself, is also extremely dangerous. Several of the fatalities that Local has suffered in the past two decades were Flaggers. The issue of on track flagging protection has been addressed several times over the last 15 years. Since the 1990’s several important improvements have been made. However, this tragedy makes it obvious that there is more that must be done. While particular attention is being paid toward mitigation of the risks associated with setting out flags/lights, we will be conducting an across-the-board review of all existing flagging safety practices. We will update you on the NTSB and Local 100 investigations into this tragedy as they become available.

John Samuelsen, President, TWU Local 100