TWU Local 100 Endorses Bernie Sanders for President

TWU Endorses Bernie Sanders

FeelTheBern

TWU Local 100 – representing 42,000 workers – endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president Wednesday at the Union Hall in Brooklyn.

“In Bernie Sanders, we see a kindred spirit,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said to an enthusiastic crowd of about 300 transit workers.  “Bernie Sanders has been fighting against the ‘powers that be’ in this country on behalf of all American workers his entire life. That’s what this country needs.  That’s what American workers need. A true champion of our cause!”

TWU Local 100 represents 42,000 members in the NYC area, including about 38,000 who operate, maintain and repair the NYC Transit bus and subway network.

Sanders told transit workers that he opposed the “disastrous” trade agreements that resulted in millions of jobs being exported to other countries. “When I grew up in Brooklyn, as a kid, you could go out and get a job,” Sanders said. “There were a lot of manufacturing plants. You didn’t get rich but you made a middle class living.  You could take care of your family. We got to reverse the disastrous set of trade policies.”

Local 100 members safely move more than 8 million New Yorkers a day. The vast majorityf live in the city’s five boroughs. “We are blue collar New York,” Samuelsen said. “Transit workers are the backbone of New York’s communities. We work here and we live here. America needs a jolt. New York needs a jolt. Working families need a jolt. ‘Business as usual’ is not about to give us the jolt we need.”

TWU Local 100’s Executive Board voted 42-1 to endorse Sanders.