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Eric Boyo, Train Operator, Lauded for Saving a Woman's Life

JULY 31 -- Train Operator Eric Boyo – and by extension all transit workers – received some well-deserved positive press on a grand scale this week. Television reporters from ABC, CBS, NBC, NY1 and WPIX11 – along with print reporters from The New York Daily News and AMNY – attended a press conference that Local 100 convened on Tuesday to showcase Boyo for saving a woman who jumped to the G-train tracks late Monday afternoon.

Boyo, who was approaching the Fulton St. station at about 37 miles per hour, alertly observed a rider on the platform urgently waving at him. He started to slow down and then activated the emergency brakes when he saw the woman on the tracks in front of him. The woman had jumped to the tracks moments earlier in an apparent suicide attempt, authorities said. Boyo’s  train came to halt approximately 75 to 100 feet from the woman, he told reporters. He then calmly helped her up to the platform with assistance from riders.

“My biggest concern was, ‘Is this person OK?’ ” Boyo told the flock of reporters. Asked if he considered himself a hero, Boyo humbly said, “We’re just doing our jobs…this is what we do.”

RTO Vice President Eric Loegel and Train Operators Chairman Zachary Arcidiacono, however, proudly and correctly declared Boyo a hero. “I want to commend Train Operator Boyo for his heroic acts,” Loegel said. “His professionalism, diligence and compassion saved a woman’s life. While something like this may seem remarkable, for a man like Eric and for our transit workers as a whole, like he said, this is what we do. These sorts of things are not always noticed, but this is reflective of the kind of person that he is and the kind of workforce we have as New York City transit workers. Arcidiacono said: “His alertness, his quick reaction time, his professionalism, his calm demeanor, is what our Train Operators and train crews bring to the job every day.”

Utano, RTO VP Loegel Blast MTA Chairman Foye

JULY 26 -- TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano and RTO Vice President Eric Loegel are blasting MTA Chairman Pat Foye for again putting transit workers in a negative light. At the MTA board meeting Wednesday, Foye blamed transit workers for a “low level of availability.”  In a statement sent to reporters and newspaper editorial pages, President Utano said:

"MTA Chairman Pat Foye should spend less time grandstanding for the press and more time negotiating a contract for the men and women who do all the work around here. I’m offended and angry that he would have the nerve to say transit workers are taking too much time off, suggesting once again that transit workers are ripping off the system. The chairman is either clueless or callous. Maybe both. Either way, the only thing he is succeeding at doing is pissing off the entire workforce. If Foye wants to improve worker availability, he should declare a Zero Tolerance approach to worker assaults and lay out a comprehensive multi-faceted plan, once and for all, to stop the onslaught of spitting, punching and other abuse that comes our way for wearing the MTA uniform.  Adding extra cops was a good first step, but more needs to be done. No one can do his or her job from the emergency room.

"If Foye really wants to improve employee availability, he should also tell his managers to stop taking our members out of service for petty or bogus infractions. They put workers out on the street and then complain they aren’t working. You can’t make this stuff up."

RTO V.P. Loegel said: "I firmly reject Chairman Foye’s characterization that our contract gives our members “too much” time off. All workers, regardless of occupation, deserve a healthy work-life balance. We do dirty, dangerous, safety-sensitive jobs and need sufficient time to recover. We have to contend with poor air quality, fumes, biological waste, physical hazards, and rampant assaults. Our work schedules are often grueling with short breaks, missed lunches, and long hours. While discipline is improving, Transit is still quick to give workers days in the street for nonsense. The medical department is also quick to restrict employees from work, for ailments that are otherwise under control. The MTA needs to address the systemic problems impacting the membership. Portraying transit workers as spoiled or lazy is not only insulting and offensive— it’s just plain false."

TWU Mourns Ursula Levelt, Retired Director of the Local 100 Legal Department

TWU Local 100 sadly reports the passing of long-time in-house attorney and labor activist, Ursula Levelt.  She died on July 7, 2019 of cancer in her beloved Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  She had moved back there recently to spend her final days in the place of her birth.  She was 60 years old. Her husband, Bill, informed the union of her death, saying: “Ursula was dedicated to the labor movement and to TWU Local 100.  She remembered the many friends and comrades there that she had worked with and fought for over the many years.”

Ursula Levelt was born in Amsterdam on April 14, 1959.  She immigrated to the U.S. and attended The New School in New York, earning a BA in 1997.  She then attended CUNY Law School, graduating in 2000. Her first job as an attorney was with the firm headed by Arthur Schwartz in 2001, then General Counsel to Local 100.

According to Schwartz, Ursula skillfully defended Local 100 members in hundreds of disciplinary arbitrations.  In 2005, Local 100 established its own Legal Department and Ursula was among the first attorneys hired.  She continued to focus on disciplinary arbitrations.  She became an expert on Medical Appeals, and fought hard for the rights of Local 100 members with disabilities.  She handled many contractual arbitrations on medical issues. In 2011 Ursula became the Legal Director of Local 100, a position she served in until her retirement in 2016. Although she planned to move with her husband to Hawaii, Governor Cuomo offered her an appointment to the Workers Compensation Board as a Commissioner, so she stayed at her home in Newburgh, NY. She resigned from the Board in June after her diagnosis of terminal cancer.

Local 100 President Tony Utano said: “Ursula was a wonderful person and a dedicated fighter for the workers. We are all saddened to learn of her passing.  She made TWU a stronger union with her professionalism and dedication. We offer our deepest condolences to her family.”

Arthur Schwartz said of his long-time colleague: “I will always remember Ursula as a person with endless energy, with a smile on her face even in difficult times. She was smart, principled, easy to get along with, and a fierce fighter for what she believed in. And she was a good friend. Her death is a real loss for the Labor Movement and progressive politics.”

Ursula was active throughout her legal career in the National Lawyers Guild, a 6o year old progressive lawyers organization, building its labor law program, and writing columns in various publications. She was also a roving ambassador for CUNY Law School. She is survived by her husband and son.

Stations Division Vice Chair Jose Torres is Laid to Rest

JULY 22 -- A solemn parade of mourners escorted the casket of our Brother Jose Torres from St. Helena's Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx this morning. Stations Vice President Lynwood Whichard was a pallbearer along with other union and family members. Brother Whichard also delivered the eulogy at the 9am service. He will be missed.