TWU Local 100 | New York's Public Transit Union

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Mayor Adams Blindsides TWU; Backs Carriage Horse Ban

SEPTEMBER 18 -- In a video released Wednesday, while walking through Central Park wearing a Teamsters jacket with its horsehead logo, Mayor Eric Adams said that “we are taking the steps to ban the horse carriage industry in the City of New York… it’s the humane thing to do.”

Referring to a bill pending in the City Council called Ryder’s Law which would sunset the industry, he said, “they already have 20 sponsors, so there’s no reason we can finally end the horse carriage industry in the city.”

TWU Local 100 represents the 170 owners and drivers who operate the carriages that take passengers through Central Park, providing one of New York’s most memorable experiences for thousands of tourists each year.

For nearly 10 years, TWU has been fighting allegations from animal rights activists who say the horses are mistreated. Evidence and testimonials from multiple veterinarians show they are well treated and well cared for.

Stations Department Mourns Collecting Agent Eric Irizarry, 61

SEPTEMBER 18 -- Eric Irizarry, a Collecting Agent with 19 years of service with NYC Transit, died on September 15 after suffering a heart attack on his way to work, Division Vice Chair Pedro Rivera said.

Our Union Brother, who worked out of the 14th Street AFC shop, had been out on a three-month leave for health problems but was recently cleared by the MAC to return to duty. But as he was coming to work on Saturday, September 13th, Irizarry got into a fender bender on the FDR Drive at around 5PM, Rivera said. While dealing with the accident paperwork, Irizarry experienced chest pains and collapsed. The driver of the other vehicle called 911, and a City ambulance took the Collecting Agent to Metropolitan Hospital in upper Manhattan where he was admitted, Rivera said. Irizarry died the following Monday.

Rivera remembered Brother Irizarry as “a good worker. He was always joking around. He was somebody you wanted to be around.”

He leaves his wife, Isabel, and her children from another marriage. Rivera has been assisting her with navigating through NYCERS and the MTA BSC to obtain death benefits. The Union has a contractual active duty death benefit of $50,000 and the retirement system provides a death benefit equal to three years’ salary.

Brother Irizarry will be cremated and a memorial service has yet to be scheduled, Rivera said.

Day 3 at TWU Convention Focuses on Worker Safety, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez Pledges His Support

SEPTEMBER 17—The focus of much of Day 3 at TWU's Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas was worker safety, with Local 100 taking the lead.

A vote on a resolution to advance safety in the workplace was introduced by Local 100 Administrative VP Alexander Kemp.

“Most of these fights that we have collectively as a union, when it comes to safety, are usually on the ground and in real time, and unfortunately when those stands are not taken the cost is ultimately people’s lives,” said Kemp from the podium.

One of the three TWU members tragically killed on the job since the last convention in 2021 was Local 100 Trackworker Hilarion Joseph, who was fatally struck by a subway train on November 29, 2023.

Local 101 President Constance Bradley at the Mic at NESE Rally

TWU Local 100 Joins Electrical and Utility Workers from Local 101 at Rally for Natural Gas Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 17 – TWU Local 100 rallied in downtown Brooklyn today in solidarity with our sister TWU Local 101, representing workers at National Grid, who want to see natural gas use expanded – not curtailed. IBEW Local 1049, Local 3, Steamfitters Local 638, and Plumbers Local One also brought over a hundred members to the rally.

The demonstration took place outside the Citytech auditorium on Jay Street, where the New York State Power Authority is holding a hearing on energy policy, allowing public comment.

At issue for the unions is whether New York State will reverse course and greenlight the Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE), a 37-mile underwater pipeline from New Jersey, which would bring an additional 400,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day to the Northeast, particularly to New York City. Previously, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had blocked permits for the pipeline.

Local 101 President Constance Bradley flew in from the TWU Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas specifically to address the rallying members.

“Major infrastructure projects like this one are the heartbeat of our workforce. These projects build and strengthen communities, create new opportunities, and ensure that front line workers benefit from New York's economic growth," Bradley told the crowd.

John Samuelsen and Slate Reelected to Leadership of Transport Workers Union of America at Constitutional Convention

SEPTEMBER 16—International President John Samuelsen and his slate were reelected by acclamation for the second time at TWU’s 27th Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas today.

The rest of the victorious Top Five, who ran unopposed as the United Unstoppable slate, includes International Executive Vice President Alex Garcia, International Secretary-Treasurer Jerome Lafragola, International Administrative Vice President Curtis Tate and International Administrative Vice President Mike Mayes.

“Local 100 is my home,” Samuelsen told the hundreds in attendance after he was elected.

TWU's 27th Constitutional Convention Begins in Las Vegas

SEPTEMBER 15—TWU’s 27th Constitutional Convention began today in Las Vegas, a weeklong event attended by air, rail and transit locals from across the country that will feature guest speakers, roundtable discussions, votes on resolutions and nominations to leadership office.

Local 100 President John V. Chiarello read the rules of the convention to the hundreds of members in the ballroom, and Local 100 Executive Board Member and New York City Employees Retirement System Trustee Mario Galvet presented one of the resolutions—#17, concerning the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

“You see a lot of videos and stills of all manner of workers engaged in debris removal, mainly. You see lots of heavy equipment in those images that bear the names of all sorts of private construction firms. You should understand that that is a really not representative image of what actually happened that day,” said Galvet before reading the resolution, which aims to preserve the history of TWU’s involvement as first responders and included over 3,500 New York City Transit Workers joining the rescue and recovery effort at Ground Zero.

After 31 years, Pitkin Barn Chair Adelina Carson-Leath Retires

SEPTEMBER 12 -- For 31 years, Adelina “Lena” Carson-Leath called transit her home.

First Carson-Leath performed the grunt work of terminal cleaning, handling what’s left on the trains after they reach the last stop, then she got under the trains — working with equipment that was already old when she was born and needed to be pampered. She rose from CTA to Car Inspector when women in that title comprised less than one percent of the CED workforce. Understanding how unions level the playing field and contribute to positive change, she ran for the TWU Local 100 Executive Board and won, and then was voted chair of Pitkin Barn by her co-workers, holding that position for 13 years.

Union Mourns Former Elections Director James Mitchell, 75

SEPTEMBER 10 -- TWU Local 100 members are mourning the passing of former head of the Elections Committee and IT Director James Mitchell. A Track Worker by trade, Brother Mitchell was brought onto union staff by former President Roger Toussaint in 2001. Along with EEM Eladio Diaz, he ran the Union's IT Department and then became head of the Elections Committee.

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