Local 100 Pledges Support to LIRR Unions

TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen and UTU General Chair Anthony Simon hold TWU’s letter of support for LIRR unions in the event of a strike, as Joel Parker (left) and Arthur Maratea of the TCU look on.
TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen and UTU General Chair Anthony Simon hold TWU’s letter of support for LIRR unions in the event of a strike, as Joel Parker (left) and Arthur Maratea of the TCU look on.

Read President Samuelsen's letter to members (pdf)

Local 100 President John Samuelsen has pledged TWU’s full support to the leaders of the two largest LIRR unions in their current contract dispute with the MTA.

Anthony Simon, General Chair of the UTU and Arthur Maratea, Chair of the Transportation Communication Union, briefed Samuelsen today (Jan. 23, 2014) on the status of the impasse with the MTA at Local 100 headquarters in Brooklyn. The two confirmed that they could be on the picket lines as early as this spring.

Samuelsen declared in a letter to Local 100 members that the “LIRR unions’ dispute will have a direct impact on our own contract with the MTA […] TWU Local 100 will support any strike action taken by the LIRR unions against the MTA in every way possible.”

LIRR workers have been without a contract for three and a half years. The railroad’s union leaders said that their members feel “there is no alternative to a strike” considering the MTA has rejected a compromise settlement offered by a federal Presidential Emergency Board. That blue chip arbitration panel, appointed by President Obama, recommended a package of modest wage increases as well as first time out-of-pocket worker contributions for health care.