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Workers Celebrate as Global Contact Services Election Affirmed

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10 -- Rank and file members working for Global Contact Services, a multinational company  under contract to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates a call center for its Access-A-Ride service, cheered as the results of an National Labor Relations Board review of a union election were announced. The NLRB re-affirmed the vote, which had TWU Local 100 winning, with 331 out of 449 votes, the right to represent the call center employees. Local 100 President John Samuelsen called the victory a win for workers at GCS, who recently joined the 15 For All campaign. Most of the workers make less than $12 per hour. TWU Local 100 plans to change that.

We Join "Fight for 15" Coalition; Push Higher Wages for Members at Global Contact Services

Carrying signs that demanded $15 and a contract, TWU Local 100 members demonstrated near City Hall as part of the #FightFor15 coalition, represented here in New York by New York Communities for Change. The campaign is also known as #strikefastfood, because most of the organizing drive is coming from fast food workers at such restaurants as McDonald's and KFC. At Global Contact Services, which TWU Local 100 organized recently and won representation rights for in an NLRB election which is being contested by management, the majority of workers make less than $12 an hour -- far below what we consider a living wage in New York City. Let's use the power of the TWU to get these -- our newest members -- a better deal. The noontime rally will be followed by more actions -- a great opportunity for our members to become part of this growing movement. We have our own hashtag -- #stopGCSabuse.

Justice for Michael Brown

TWU 100 has always stood on the side of those seeking justice.

We stand with those in Ferguson and across the country seeking justice for Michael Brown.

TWU's Earl Phillips Talks at Dedication of Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot in Harlem

NOVEMBER 20 -- New York City Transit's first "green" bus depot -- the Mother Clara Hale Depot at 146th Street and Lenox Avenue in Manhattan -- opened today with great fanfare and speeches by top officials from Transit and TWU Local 100. 300 buses will run out of the facility, beginning on November 22 with a smaller number and then scaling up. The state-of-the-art depot, which features LEED certification and a green roof, was built on the site of a trolley barn that started operating in the 1890. TWU Local 100 organized the property some 45 years later.

In his remarks, TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips talked about how, when he began work as a Bus Mechanic 22 years ago, the diesel fumes from the depot were so thick it looked ghostly. He mentioned the death last year of longtime Maintainer Tony Nigro, who worked at the facility and whose death from lung cancer was found to be job-related. He had been retired for only three months. Phillips praised the new, bright, and  clean depot, and said: "We come to these jobs to work for 25 years, retire, and have a good life with our families – we don’t want to die on these jobs." Today we’re not negotiating," he continued to MTA CEO Tom Prendergast, who was also on the dais, referring to the Local 100 contract, which expires in 2017. "We’re friends. Today we’re laughing, but in another year and a half we’ll be fighting for betterment, for good salaries, and good depots. Let’s work together and move forward."