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.
The resolution, which passed with a resounding, enthusiastic and unanimous chorus of “ayes”, reads, in part:
“Wheras the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, after extensive lobbying, has now seen fit to recognize this work by placing items carried by 9/11 TWU Transit responders in the Museum’s permanent collection,
Now therefore, be it hereby resolved that the TWU International has an interest in a continuing partnership with the Museum, so that the general public, going forward, understands the contributions made by transit workers on 9/11 and its aftermath; and
Be it finally resolved that the TWU International will continue to advocate for increased recognition of transit workers in the Memorial and Museum if it transitions, as expected, to federal control as part of the National Parks Service.”
