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Simon, Samuelsen Stand Together as SMART Pushes MTA Board for Raises Along PEB Lines

JANUARY 29 -- The stage is set for an LIRR strike come spring if the MTA does not accept the recommendations of a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), recently impaneled by President Obama to look at wages and benefits at the railroad. That was the message of SMART General Chairman Anthony Simon, who appeared today before the MTA Board of Directors in the company of TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen at the Authority's corporate headquarters on Madison Avenue. Speaking at the Board's first meeting of 2014, Simon -- representing a coalition of 70% of LIRR unionized employees -- expressed his members' anger and frustration over being told to take three zeroes and make concessions while MTA managers were getting raises through "creative" accounting practices. Just 45 minutes earlier, in the same board room, the MTA's Audit Committee was talking about what to do with a $80 million real estate "windfall." It was the same old story -- money for everything else except worker raises. The PEB panel released its recommendations last month -- a contract worth approximately 18% over six years. But the MTA is rejecting the finding. With the public seating area in the board room taken up by TWU and LIRR union members, Simon said, "I ask this Board to become actively involved to help end this dispute now." After speaking, Simon and Samuelsen talked to the press. That video will be posted on the Local 100 website.

Video from News 12 Westchester

Mile Square Mechanics Back to Work After Dispute With Owner

TWU Local 100 mechanics at Mile Square School Bus are back to work this afternoon (Jan. 28, 2014) after a confrontation earlier in the day with owner, Harry Rodriguez, refused the workers access to their jobs when they arrived for their shifts this morning. Member complaints to OSHA over extreme cold conditions in the depot and crew facilities appeared to have sparked the dispute.

Local 100 Administrative Vice President Angel Giboyeaux rushed to the site in Yonkers and resolved the dispute.

Samuelsen introduces John Philo (center) and Herb Sanders

Activists Carry Alarming News of Government Shutdown Tactics in Michigan to TWU Executive Board

Local 100’s Executive Board got a full-course meal of the awful truth about Michigan’s emergency manager law this week. Unfiltered by hostile media accounts, Herb Sanders of Stand Up For Democracy and John Philo of the National Lawyers Guild served it up straight: after a full-bore assault by a right wing governor and legislature, there’s a potential that public employees in Michigan will see a 50 to 80 percent cut in their pensions and medical care for retirees replaced by a small monthly stipend of $125. Those who haven’t yet retired in cities controlled by emergency managers face the loss of their pensions by fiat.

Sanders’ warning was straightforward: “What happened in Detroit is coming to a city near you very soon, unless we are able to demonstrate some solidarity.”

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.

Local 100 Pledges Support to LIRR Unions

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.

Daily News Finds MTA Pay Freeze for Bosses a “Farce”

A new piece by New York Daily News columnist Pete Donohue has slammed the MTA “shared sacrifice” theme as a sacrifice for everyone but the bosses.

The column, which appeared on page 10 of the January 20, 2014 edition of the Daily News exposes how MTA brass use bureaucratic sleight-of-hand to give themselves raises, while flying the “flag of frugality.”

Report: LIRR "rolls closer to a possible strike"

In a copyrighted story, the New York Daily News today reports on the MTA's rejection, in Washington, of a proposed wage package for Long Island Railroad employees who have been working without a contract since 2010. The wage package, an average of 2.85% a year for six years, was recommended by an emergency board panel reporting to President Barack Obama. That recommendation is explained by President Samuelsen in his latest video, posted in the top position on the TWU Local 100 website. The MTA's rejection of the wage package recommendation, the News reports, sets up the MTA for a possible strike come summer -- which would be legal. LIRR employees are not subject to the NYS Taylor Law.

At Two Year Mark, President Samuelsen Assesses Prospects for a Contract

Local 100 President John Samuelsen, in the latest in a series of video to the rank and file, talks about how the economic climate has changed since the expiration of the TWU Local 100 contract two years ago, and what the prospects are for a settlement in the near future. Two recent arbitration decisions point to a developing consensus that the MTA’s repeated cry of poverty is bogus. Now it’s not just the TWU who is saying it.

Local 100, M3 Technology fete scholarship awardees

On January 10, TWU Local 100 Scholarship winners for 2012 and 2013 and their families, were feted at the Union Hall. President Samuelsen joined John B. Pescitelli of M3 Technology, our voluntary insurance provider and sponsor of the scholarships, in congratulating the awardees and presenting them with certificates. President Samuelsen discussed the contract fight, and said that the union's continuing fight for wages and benefits has been the driving force behind our members being able to provide their children with better opportunities than they themselves were given.

Click on image for slideshow. Click here for event program with full list of 2012 and 2013 scholarship winners.

The applications deadline for the 2014 scholarships is May 31. The application form can be found here.

TWU President Samuelsen and the Council Speaker

Melissa Mark-Viverito, Friend of TWU, Elected as City Council Speaker

TWU Local 100 congratulates City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-East Harlem) on her election, by a unanimous vote, to the position of Speaker of the City Council. She has been a stalwart supporter of TWU Local 100 and an outspoken progressive in the fight to restore transit service, carrying Local 100 flyers to bring back bus service on Manhattan's East Side from the 126 Street Depot. She has attended Union events like Italian Heritage Night, and has frequently met with our Political Action Team and our leadership. We look forward to working with her in 2014 and beyond, as we pursue the restoration and expansion of bus service throughout the five boroughs. Ms. Mark-Viverito, 44, is a Puerto Rican-born lawmaker from East Harlem and becomes the first Hispanic to hold what is New York City’s second-most-powerful office.

As Snow Snarls City, We Make Commute Easier

TWU Local 100's Cleaners and other titles were out in force as the first big storm of 2014 hit New York. At 110th Street on the #1 line, CTA Raphael White with another worker helped tourists get down the stairs by chopping ice and helping clear a safe path to the train platform. TWU members -- send us your photos of storm-related activities to: communications@twulocal100.org