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Train Operator Bitten by Emotionally Disturbed Man After Intervening in Attack on Female Passenger

AUGUST 23—A Train Operator working the D line Friday night was bitten in the leg by an emotionally disturbed man after he intervened in an attack on a female passenger.

Train Operator Ellerbee, with seven years on the job, was quick to react when he heard a child’s cries and stepped out of his cab to see a crazed man yelling and lunging at straphangers while aboard the train near the Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn.

“I heard a kid say ‘Driver, driver’. I stopped the train outside Stillwell,” said Ellerbee. “When I came out, he had the girl on the wall,” said Ellerbee, who described a woman being cornered while the man yelled “zombie-like words”.

“He backed off her and he lunged at me but he didn’t do anything. I told the guy sit the f down and don’t move. He went and sat down and I thought it was over.”

UPDATE: Facebook page secured

AUGUST 22 — TWU Local 100 has regained control of our Facebook page.

We apologize for any inconvenience and thank law enforcement for their assistance in this matter.

TWU Local 100 Hosts Kick-off Reception for Cancer fundraiser

AUGUST 20—TWU Local 100 leadership and others hosted the 20th Anniversary Kick-off Reception for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of The Bronx on Tuesday evening.

The celebration, held at a Cuban restaurant on Grand Concourse, was the first of what will be a series of events sponsored by the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer research.

“We get a lot of requests for donations from different organizations, and I have to tell you, I have no problem signing this check for American Cancer Society,” TWU Local 100 President John V. Chiarello said to applause from the crowd. “This is a very worthwhile cause because like I said, everyone knows someone who has had cancer.”

TWU Carriage Drivers Fight Back

AUGUST 19—TWU Local 100 members from across the spectrum of buses and subways came out today to support their carriage driver siblings in a rally outside Council Member Erik Bottcher’s midtown office.

Bottcher has been targeting the welfare of both the Central Park carriage drivers and the horses with demands the carriages be banned and claims that the animals, who are loved and treasured by the drivers, are mistreated.

“Why ruin this industry? What, over rich, elite people who want the real estate from the stables? Give me a break. Tell Erik Bottcher to come off his high horse and get down here,” said TWU Local 100 President John V. Chiarello, standing alongside hundreds of Local 100 members.

Defending Our Horses -- and Their Drivers

AUGUST 14 -- TWU Local 100 is fighting to preserve a 167-year-old tradition—taking horse-carriage rides in Central Park—and protecting hundreds of blue-collar jobs.

Carriage rides in the city’s most famous park began when the first section opened in 1858. The tradition faces opposition from some City Council members, animal rights extremists, and now the non-profit Central Park Conservancy, which ludicrously claimed earlier this week the horse-carriages pose a safety risk to the public.

Appearing on Eyewitness News, shop steward and Carriage-Horse Driver Christina Hansen said the real danger in the park comes from the hordes of e-bikes, motorized scooters, and illegally motorized pedicabs.

“[The Parks Conservancy] is more interested in making the park a place for anybody with an e-bike or e-vehicle to zoom around. It’s total chaos.”

Transit Workers Turn out for Dominican Celebration and Parade on 6th Avenue

AUGUST 10 – Transit Workers paraded up 6th Avenue for the 43rd Annual Dominican Day Parade, saluting the nearly three-quarters of a million New Yorkers of Dominican ancestry, including TWU Local 100 members. One of those – our own Carlos Bernabel, Secretary-Treasurer of TWU Local 100 – was honored as an Ambassador of Hope at an early morning breakfast in Inwood where unions and political leaders gathered.

TWU Local 100’s Political Action Director, Sharase Debouse, was also recognized. Warmly embraced by Adriano Espaillat, the first Dominican-American to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, she gave her remarks first in Spanish and then translated for the crowd.

“Thank you all so much for this honor,” she said. “I do this work because I love it. I love my community, I love my people, and I love labor.”

TWU Contingent at APRI Conference in Chicago

AUGUST 9 -- TWU Local 100 is participating in the A. Philip Randolph Institute's 54th annual National Educational Conference in Chicago, Illinois. The Conference was founded by noted civil rights and labor leaders A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin. You can read more about the history of the APRI here.

APRI unites action for civil rights and for labor. TWU Local 100 Training and Upgrading Director Charles Jenkins, who is also the Executive Chair of our Civil & Human Rights Committee, is attending along with Brothers and Sisters from TWU Local 291. In the photos Jenkins stands with TWU members along with APRI President Clayola Brown (along with Al Sharpton) and noted actor and activist Danny Glover.

Justine Randall: Accused in thefts of trains

Transit Must Move Faster to Prevent Train Thefts

AUGUST 8--An epidemic of youthful train thefts is rocking the system and the MTA is moving slower than molasses to address it.

Just two weeks ago, Justine Randall, 18, was arrested for allegedly using stolen keys to gain access to an N Train in Astoria, Queens, driving it one stop southbound. Randall – a serial train hijacker who also purloins MTA property and has attacked a Transit worker—was in court yesterday after previously jumping bail and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Randall currently has cases in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn courts.

It’s not like this is news to the MTA. Over two years ago, in March of 2023, after two suspects stole a train in Brooklyn, the Transit Authority said that it was “exploring the possibility of adding biometric identification measures” to prevent thefts. Today, that solution is still covered in bureaucratic red tape. Stories broke earlier this year of groups of kids boarding and driving out-of-service or laid-up trains on joyrides, creating videos for social media and having the time of their young lives while they exploit the weaknesses of MTA’s security. Other reports found young people stealing train crew equipment.