As the towers fell 13 years ago, New York City transit mobilized for the evacuation of lower Manhattan, the painstaking search for victims, and the removal of hundreds of tons of broken cement and i-beams. Our subways and buses brought countless New Yorkers swiftly away from the disaster site, and rushed in hundreds of Firefighters and Police Officers who came to render aid. We picked up passengers from Cortlandt St/World Trade Center just as the towers fell. We brought in heavy rigs and began hauling 80,000 pound loads of debris by tractor trailer from the site. We cut steel and put the supercrane into service at the site that usually lifts sections of railroad track. But in the history of those days, transit workers are generally overlooked. The official histories don't record that three thousand TWU Local 100 members worked on the pile, many for weeks. Today, many suffer health effects from their service. TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen was one of those there on a daily basis serving alongside those from most every title in transit. These photos document some our work at Ground Zero as we remember this tragedy 13 years later. Here's how the Local 100 Express covered 9/11 in November of 2001.
Outside New York County Criminal Court, bereaved widow Nancy Pena and attorney Sanford Rubinstein talk to the press about the lack of progress in the prosecution of Domonic Whilby, who killed Nancy’s husband, Bus Operator William Pena, last February. Today in court, Whilby’s attorney Harvey Slovis asked Judge Gregory Carro to release him from the case, on the grounds that he was not being paid. Carro did not immediately grant the request and postponed the case to October 22.
Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer (D-Yonkers) won by a 4-1 margin with the strong backing of TWU Local 100. At right at the 9/9 victory celebration is Admin VP Angel Giboyeaux.
We picked 'em in Kings County. TWU Local 100's Political Action Committee under the direction of Marvin Holland came up with big winners on Primary Night. The New York Times called the election for Rodneyse Bichotte in the 42nd Assembly District shortly after 12 midnight. Rodneyse marched with Local 100 in the West Indian Day Parade and won decisively in a four-way race after losing two years ago. We put a lot of resources into her campaign, determined to win this time around. We also put manpower and literature into the candidacy of Latrice Walker, who was one of seven competing in the 55th Assembly District against a candidate who many thought had a powerful machine. The pundits turned out to be wrong and Latrice took it with 40% of the votes over 22% for Lori Boozer. In Sunset Park and Flatbush, TWU's candidate Jesse Hamilton crushed Rubain Dorancey 2-1. Elsewhere in the City, the news was also good for TWU. A dedicated friend of mass transit, Adriano Espaillat, pulled out a narrow victory in Manhattan over Robert Jackson. Jeffrey Klein cruised to a solid win over Oliver Koppell in Senate District 34. In Westchester, Shelley Mayer, a good friend of Local 100, easily turned aside a challenge from Michael Sweeney, winning 4-1. And at the top of the ticket, our picks for Governor and Lt. Governor -- Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, won with strong showings. Hats off to our volunteers in the field and our members who got out and voted!
SEPTEMBER 3 -- TWU Local 100 Vice President for Maintenance of Way Tony Utano along with MTA Chief of Subways Joe Leader congratulated the hundreds of workers from all MOW trades who rebuilt the flooded Greenpoint Tube for the G Train after it was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. In a ceremony on the waterfront by Newtown Creek, Utano and Leader touted the accomplishments of our Track, Electrical, RTO, EMD, Infastructure, Third Rail, and Stations crews who made it all possible. In his remarks, Utano spoke of Local 100's ability to get the job done on time and under budget, and with a familiarity with every inch of the tunnel that no outside contractor could match.
With TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips as an honored guest, union officers and rank and file stepped off from Buffalo Avenue to march down Eastern Parkway in high style. Our procession took nearly a city block, with the TWU float backed up by the union van, an MTA bus, and the TWU International's touring bus. We stepped down the parkway with acclaim from thousands of spectators, meeting up with President Samuelsen and union staff who were cooking up jerk chicken and curry for the rank and file. During the parade, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made a point of stopping at the Local 100 area to shake hands with President Samuelsen to acknowledge the union's endorsement of him and running mate Kathy Hochul in the September 9th Democratic Primary. TWU Local 100 was an official sponsor of the event, and Earl Phillips had a place at the podium at the political breakfast that began the event.
In an opinion piece in the Chief-Leader, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen ripped the New York Times for its doom-and-gloom coverage of public pension plans such as NYCERS, which more than 25,000 TWU members at the Transit Authority belong to. In an August 3 front-page story, The Times sounds alarm bells about the cost of our pensions, but fails to share an important piece of news: NYCERS and the other 4 NYC public pension funds just had their best year in memory, notching a 17% return on portfolios of stocks, bonds, and alternative investments. The New York Times’s hidden agenda, Samuelsen says, isn’t so hard to figure out. The Times is doing the bidding of Wall Street by implying that union trustees shouldn’t have a voice in the pension funds’ investments. This opposes the legitimate role that unions play in protecting their members and holding companies to ethical standards. Read the opinion piece here.
Mass transit systems in coastal areas will be hard-hit by global warming as sea levels rise and extreme weather increases. In this video, TWU Local 100 Conductor Roxanne Coombs says why she'll be at the People's Climate March on September 21, which takes place just two days before world leaders are scheduled to meet at the United Nations for another attempt to agree on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Governments aren't doing enough. It's time for people power and Union power to force them to act. For more information, and to join our climate change group, text CLIMATE to 313131. For information about the march, go to the People's Climate March site. Read the union's page on global warming here.
Spirits were high on August 10 as TWU Local 100 members marched up Sixth Avenue as part of the Dominican Day Parade. Front and center with the TWU-ers was Schoolbus Shop Steward Viviana Guzman (in white), who also attended the earlier Dominican Day breakfast in Washington Heights, where TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen was honored with the Community Service Award presented by Dominican political leaders including Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Both politicians have a strong record of supporting mass transit funding and have joined Local 100 in our campaigns.
TWU members who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces came to the TWU Local 100 Union Hall from all over the United States this week in a historic conference to promote and expand Veterans’ benefits state by state and nationally. At the initiative of the TWU International, the Airline Transport Division’s Veterans Committee has joined forces with TWU Local 100’s own Veterans to create a national TWU Veterans Committee which includes all of our industrial sectors.
The Conference was opened by TWU Local 100 President and TWU International Executive VP John Samuelsen, who welcomed participants from across the country to New York and pledged his and the union leadership’s full support for the Conference’s agenda. “The TWU of America is committed to putting new resources into the political arena for our Veterans,” he said. “It’s time to bring increased national attention to bringing more benefits to the men and women who have served our country.”
Kicking off the month of August -- which has a host of TWU Local 100 events -- was family day at Brooklyn's Von King Park with longtime KISS-FM and WBLS radio personality Lenny Green. The day of fun, food, and music on August 3rd was co-sponsored by TWU Local 100. We had tents with member information and a free bar-b-que grill. While they ate, members could enjoy the many soulful music and rap acts performing in the park's ampitheater. Enjoying the day were TWU rank and file, along with some of the union's top officers. In photo (l-r): Lester Muata Greene, retired NYC EMS worker (and Lenny's brother), Local 100 staffer and President of the New York Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Charles Jenkins, TWU Local 100 PAC Director Marvin Holland, Lenny Green, TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips.
