Fatal Accident to Local 100 Conductor; Another Seriously Injured

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President Samuelsen talked with members early this morning at the EMD gang quarters in Long Island City about the tragic death of Construction Flagger Louis Gray and the urgency of our contract fight. He released this statement to the membership:

It is with great sadness that I am informing you that once again our union has suffered an on track fatality. Louis Gray, a Construction Flagger was struck by a train and killed at Church Ave on the F Line. This occurred at approximately 12:09 AM today. A second Construction Flagger, Jeffrey Fleming, is injured and undergoing treatment at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. The severity of his injuries is still being assessed. The Train Operator of the G train involved has been treated for trauma and released. These two men were working the overnight shift to put food on their table and provide for their families. Now, one is dead and the other seriously injured. I ask our Local 100 family and everyone in the city to keep them in your prayers. 

TWU Local 100 pressed for, and New York City Transit agreed to institute a safety shutdown immediately after the accident. All work crews terminated maintenance and construction assignments on the trackway. The fatality occurred while two Flaggers were setting out flagging lights on a curve. Local 100 has assessed the scene and we will be engaging management on the specific dangers of that particular work assignment, and the underlying causes of this fatal accident.

Along with me, Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips, RTO Vice President Kia Phua, Train Operators Chair Broussard Alston, and Safety Director Paul Navarro were on site to deal with this tragedy. We are redoubling our efforts to enforce safe work practices across our system. By this time, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we work in perhaps the most dangerous work environment in New York. Industrial accidents will occur, but we know that through aggressive enforcement and aggressive utilization of unannounced safety inspections,  we can mitigate against future tragedies.

This morning I shopgated the EMD gang quarters at Northern Boulevard in Long Island City. We held a long moment of silence for Louis Gray. I stressed that our first goal is to do our best to ensure a work environment that is safe and that allows us to return safely home to our families at the end of the day.

TWU Local 100 Mourns the Passing of Michael Conigliaro, President of TWU Local 101

The TWU family in New York City and across the country is mourning the unexpected passing of one of its ablest and most dynamic leaders, Local 101 President and International Vice President Michael Conigliaro. He was only 58 and died of a heart attack at his home on Staten Island.

TWU Local 100 President and International Executive Vice President John Samuelsen expressed his and the Local’s profound grief over Michael’s death. “Mike’s passing is an incredibly sad moment for Local 100 and the entire labor movement in New York City.  He was a tremendous leader for his members in Local 101, and was like a brother to me and well loved by everyone here in Local 100.  Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, and to the family of Local 101 during this trying time.”

Local 101 represents workers at National Grid and HomeServe.  As President and Vice President of the Local, he steered his union through two tumultuous corporate takeovers of the venerable Brooklyn Union Gas Co., first by the Keyspan Corporation in 1998 and then by international energy conglomerate National Grid in 2006.  Conigliaro skillfully resisted all efforts to marginalize the workforce, and protected their contracts and benefits against demands for major givebacks.

Mike was elected Local President in September 2012. He was previously Vice President for more than 10 years and Recording Secretary. As news of his death spread though National Grid’s facilities in Brooklyn and Queens, more than a few workers were unable to continue and walked off the sites. “That’s the kind of man we are grieving,” said Josephine Arroyo, recently retired Local 101 vice president. “He was a great father, a great grandfather and he treated his members like his own family.”

We remember Mike in a photo essay here.

Under Mike, Local 101’s membership grew from about 1,200 to 1,600 and its growth is expected into 2017. He negotiated a 5-year contract with National Grid that gave workers 13.5% raises and free dental, a major accomplishment according to Recording Secretary Joe Coscia: “He was a proud union man and he inspired others to share that pride and engagement in the labor movement.” Similarly, Mike encouraged members to participate in our Democracy by voting, and he launched a successful voter-registration drive at National Grid properties.

Local 101 Secretary Treasurer Constance Bradley said: “We all loved Mike as a Union brother and as a great leader. No one can express how deeply we will miss him.” Local 101 and Local 100 shares offices on the third floor at the union’s Brooklyn headquarters on Montague Street, and Mike was a popular figure among Local 100 officers and staff.  Local 100 Vice President Tony Utano said: “Mike was incredibly generous.  He brought a great energy to the union hall every day.  He lifted everyone’s spirits with his infectious smile and great attitude.  We are going to miss him forever.”  

Conigliaro is from a strong union family with ties to labor across the city and country.  His brother James Conigliaro is Executive Vice President of the International Association of Machinists. Another brother, Frank, owns a top-to-bottom union printing company, that services Local unions throughout the City.  His nephew, Jimmy, is Vice President of the New York City Central Labor Council representing the Machinists. He is survived by his wife, Tina, three children, Michael Jr., Jacqueline, and Steven, four grandchildren, two sisters and six brothers.

Arrangements are as follows: 

Viewing: Friday Nov. 4, 2016, from 2:00pm-7:00pm at the Martin Hughes Funeral Home, 530 Narrows Road South, Staten Island, NY 10304

Memorial Mass: Saturday, November 5, 2016, 12:00 Noon at Our Lady Star of the Sea, on 5371 Amboy Rd., Staten Island, NY 10312. Phone: 718-984-0593

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be make to St. Judes Children's Hospital in Mike Conigliaro’s name.

Transit Workers Deserve Good Raises

BY PETE DONOHUE

Monique Brathwaite, 36, a single mother, took a job working on NYC’s dangerous subway tracks to better provide for her four boys. Now, she’s lying in a hospital bed in Harlem with severe burns. Surgeons had to amputate one arm below the elbow. Brathwaite, 35, was horribly unlucky. She tripped and fell onto the electrified third rail, which carries 600 volts of electricity. But you could also say she was fortunate. She very easily could have died. Transit workers are killed on the job regularly.

For a Go Fund Me page to help Monique with her recovery, click here.

NYC Transit doesn’t suspend subway service for many of the inspection and regular repair jobs transit workers carry out every day and night. Workers have to dodge trains and keep clear of the electrified - and always present - third rail. Subway conductors, bus operators, station cleaners and other transit workers also are often targets for the criminals and lunatics out there who have equal access to the bus and subway system as the rest of us. At least 234 transit workers were killed or fatally injured on the job since 1946, many of them were struck by trains while doing maintenance or construction projects. Twelve transit workers were killed on the job over the last 15 years:

*Samuel McPhaul was electrocuted by the third rail near Grand Central Station in Manhattan in July 2001.

* Christopher Bonaparte was killed by an A train at the Liberty Ave. station in East New York, Brooklyn, in April 2002.

* Joy Anthony was killed by a No. 3 train near the 96th St.-Broadway station in Manhattan in November 2002.

* Kurien Baby was killed by an E train near the Canal Street station in Manhattan in November 2002.

* Conductor Janell Bennerson was killed when her head slammed into an ill-placed fence post at the end of the Aqueduct/N. Conduit Ave. station in Ozone Park, Queens, in January 2003.

Read more

Italian Day Serves Up a Night of Great Food and Great Entertainment

Italian Day 2016

Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world, securely and privately show content to your friends and family, or blog the photos and videos you take with a cameraphone.

Sopranos Actor Vincent Pastore -- whose mob nickname has taken on added heft after remarks by presidential candidate Donald Trump -- picked up the Man of the Year Award at Local 100's annual Italian Heritage celebration. Pastore, a SAG-AFTRA member who has been vocal about not taking non-union jobs, was praised by President Samuelsen as a trade unionist at the event, which also featured four other actors who appeared on The Sopranos. MOW Vice President Tony Utano, affectionately introduced by LES Chair John V. Chiarello as Local 100's own Godfather, brought his family to the dinner and proudly welcomed several hundred union members to the event. All attendees had great food catered by Clemente's, as well as the best cappucino and pastries that Brooklyn has to offer. Salut! Enjoy the slides and be sure to come back next year!

How the Mayor is Failing Labor

In an op-ed for the Daily News, featured on the cover of today's paper, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen takes NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio to task for faltering support for organized labor. Read the complete op-ed article here.

Transit Workers Up in Lights at Times Square

TWU Local 100 members bring millions of New Yorkers and visitors in and out of Times Square -- the Crossroads of the World -- in a fast-paced, 24/7 rhythm that moves with our buses and trains.

If all those people didn’t know who really moves New York underground on subways and above ground on buses, they’ll be reminded of it on a giant Times Square jumbotron right across from a subway entrance.

That's because TWU Local 100 has purchased time on the big screen at 1500 Broadway (at 43^rd Street) to show New Yorkers who their City’s real movers and shakers are.

Here is the first 15-second segment that will be played four times an hour for 20 hours per day for the three-month period of Oct. 15, 2016 to Jan. 15, 2017 (which is not coincidentally the expiration of our agreement).

Local 100 President John Samuelsen explained that the messaging would first and foremost highlight transit workers’ contributions to the economic and social fabric of New York.  He said that future messages would shine a light on the union’s fight for a new on-time contract, and be used as a tool to generate interest in union events such as our contract kickoff rally on Nov. 15, 2016, outside 2 Broadway.

Russian Day a Wonderful Afternoon at Tatiana's

OCTOBER 9 -- TWU's Russian Day at Tatiana's on the Brighton Beach boardwalk was another display of diversity and union power. Line Equipment Signal Chair John Chiarello worked closely with Executive Board Member Grigory Dunichev of Car Equipment to bring 1200 members from all over the Union to the event. Besides huge turnouts from CED and MOW, members from TA Surface and Private Lines -- Quality Bus -- were represented. "Russian Day began during horrible weather conditions," Chiarello said, "but even with a massive storm outside we filled Tatiana's to capacity." Grigory Dunichev praised the 20-member Russian Heritage Committee for their outstanding work in arranging the event. "They put out a very good effort. As a result, it went very smoothly and was a big success based on feedback from the membership." Dunichev noted that the gypsy dance troupe Danchenko got President Samuelsen down onto the dance floor where he proved equal to the task.

Top Union officers including President John Samuelsen and Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips greeted members and received prominent public officials, including Comptroller Scott Stringer, who President Samuelsen encouraged to step up to run for the Mayoralty, and New York State Commissioner of Labor Roberta Reardon. Local political leaders including Councilman Alan Maisel also attended. There was dancing, great food, and of course spirits to keep everyone in a festive spirit. Enjoy the slide and video show!

Nuestras Naciones, our Annual Celebration of Hispanic Heritage

Enjoy our slide show from this year's event, which took place at the Union Hall and featured a salute to Ecuador!

We Remember Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, a Powerful Fighter for Human Rights

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TWU Local 100 mourns the passing of Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson, at the age of 50, from cancer. DA Thompson was a shining star in Brooklyn, an outspoken leader in the criminal justice arena, and a solid supporter of transit workers. DA Thompson attended TWU Local 100’s rally in support of a good contract in October of 2013 on the anniversary of Super Storm Sandy and spoke powerfully at our Black History Celebration on February 25, 2015. His speech at our event is a fitting commemoration of Ken Thompson’s values and what he stood for.

Samuelsen Op Ed in the Daily News: The raise transit workers deserve: The state and MTA, which have the money, must pay bus and subway professionals more.

They can't really protect us. So they damn well should pay us. The unique stresses and perils that come with being a transit worker have been on full display in recent months.

On Sept. 14, a rider with a chip on his shoulder and some screws loose in his head slammed a female conductor against a wall on a J train. The next day, someone smacked a B-train conductor with a bag. Weeks earlier, another miscreant set fire to a station booth while an agent was inside.

You can find an example every single day of a bus or subway worker being assaulted or abused: punched, spat upon, threatened, knocked to the ground or worse.

Read more

Members Pack Brooklyn Courtroom in Arson Case

Dozens of TWU Local 100 members went to Brooklyn Supreme Court Thursday to face down a lowlife who tried to set a token booth on fire during a failed robbery. About 30 union officers and members filled the public rows behind the prosecutor’s table as Everett Robinson was arraigned on attempted murder, attempted assault in the first degree and other charges. Robinson briefly turned and took notice of the TWU Local 100 contingent glaring at him. He was then led shackled back to jail on Rikers Island. Justice William Harrington continued Robinson’s bail requirement: $50,000 cash or $75,000 bond.

Local 100 members then marched down the hallway with their fists in the air as photographers from the New York Daily News and New York Post snapped away.

Stations Vice President Derick Echevarria and Stations Chairman Joe Bermudez told the reporters they were pleased the Brooklyn district attorney’s office jacked up the charges against Robinson to attempted murder and first-degree assault. Robinson was initially charge by police with attempted arson and second-degree assault, which carry significantly lower maximum prison sentences. He now faces a minimum five years behind bars and a maximum 25 years upstate. But Echevarria and Bermudez were angered that Justice Harrington denied - without explanation - a media request to take photographs of Robinson in the courtroom. “Why is he coddling someone who tried to kill one of our members, a Station Agent who was simply doing her job serving the riders?,” Bermudez said.

Station Agent Percilla Augustine-Soverall, 44, told police that she was in the booth at about 10:45 p.m. on Aug. 12 when Robinson doused the aperture with a liquid that smelled like gasoline. “He said that if I didn’t give him the money, he would light me up,” Augustine-Soverall said. Robinson then held up a shirt or rag and lit it on fire, according to the criminal complaint filed by NYPD Det. Daniel Artega. The fire apparently spread more quickly than Robinson anticipated, forcing him to drop it to the floor before he could stuff it into the booth’s opening, according to a law enforcement source.

Still, the smoke from the burning cloth filled the mezzanine and booth, triggering the Halon fire-suppression system. “Everything was just cloudy in the booth,” Augustine-Soverall told the New York Daily News. “I couldn’t do anything…I just started crying. I was in shock.” Agent Augustine-Soverall was not physically injured but remains traumatized.

Indian Day a Festive Night

On September 24, at the IBEW Local 3 hall in Queens, we held our annual day celebrating transit workers of Indian heritage. Enjoy the slide show!

 

Our Annual Chinese Day -- Mid Autumn Festival -- a Roaring Success!

With a festive lion dance, great food, and entertainment by vocalist Winne Huang, the TWU's second annual mid-Autumn festival, celebrating Chinese Heritage, got underway in mid-September in Brooklyn. For those who missed it, enjoy the slide show!

 

News Report: Hero Conductor Brought Girl, Suicidal Mom to Safety

In a copyrighted story in Wednesday's edition, Daily News Reporter Dan Rivoli reports on Conductor Warren Cox, who noticed something very wrong at the station where he was assigned. He intervened to stop a likely suicidal plunge of a woman, clutching her nine year old daughter, into the path of a train. Read the story here. TWU Local 100 President told the news: “Saving lives is not in the job description, but that's what transit workers regularly do, sometimes at great risk to their own safety,” said John Samuelsen, Transport Workers Union Local 100 chief. “We're proud of Conductor Cox for intervening until the police arrived.”

Health Benefits: Aetna Wins the Contract to Administer Local 100 Health Benefits

The right to unilaterally change health carriers was given to the MTA by the union in the 2002 contract negotiations. The MTA has once again exercised this contractual right to bring in a new health care provider.
 
Starting on January 1, 2017, Aetna will be responsible for administering all the different medical plans for Local 100 members and retirees at TA/OA/MTA Bus. Each of these plans will remain distinct with the benefits and terms set in prior collective bargaining between the Union and the Authority. There will be NO change in the level of benefits due to this changeover. This change does not affect the prescription, optical and dental plans.
 
Some members – much fewer than in 2012 -- will see their doctor go out of network and may want to find a new one. Later this year, any member facing such a disruption will be notified by letter. Additionally, during the Open Enrollment period members will be provided with all the information they need to check for themselves. On the plus side, several thousand doctors who were out of network will now be in-network. Transitional arrangements will be made for members in special circumstances; for example, pregnant women and members undergoing chemotherapy.
 
This year’s Open Enrollment period will run from October 15 to December 5 for active members, and from November 1 to December 5 for retirees. Open Enrollment packs will be mailed out at the beginning of those periods. Open Enrollment informational meetings will be held at locations throughout the system, starting October 11. The schedule of meetings will be published shortly.
 
Active members who do not receive their Open Enrollment pack by October 15 can contact the BSC at that time. Retirees who do not receive their Open Enrollment pack by November 1 can contact the BSC at that time. However, if you do not want to change your plan you do not need to file anything during Open Enrollment, unless you want to add a dependent or if you are a retiree turning 65.
 
The 2012 changeover was accompanied by too much disruption and confusion. The Union is working to make sure that this time is different.