TWU Local 100 | New York's Public Transit Union

Div Chair Carlos Bernabel receives the vaccine

County Arranges Vaccine for Liberty Lines Workers

Carlos Bernabel, Chair of the Local 100 Private Operations Division, and Liberty Lines Bus Operator, was one of the workers to receive the Covid vaccine thanks to the efforts of Westchester County and Liberty Lines. The County arranged for vaccines for Liberty workers over a three-day period. Monday, Feb. 1, 20201 is the last day of the program. Liberty Lines workers still interested in getting the vaccine can call the company's Human Resources department to register. Vaccines are available from 3-6pm Monday afternoon. Carlos is urging his fellow workers to get the shot.

President Utano Praises Transit Workers in Annual Report to Membership

President's Report to Members presents recap of accomplishments and a preview of our ongoing objectives.

TWU LOCAL 100 BLOCKS MTA PLAN TO SHUTTER BOOTHS AND ELIMINATE LUNCH RELIEF

TWU Local 100 has successfully blocked an MTA plan to eliminate “lunch relief” positions and shutter all 470 token booths for significant periods of time every day.

Ruling on a lawsuit brought by TWU Local 100, Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry declared Thursday, Jan. 28, the MTA would be violating the New York Public Authorities Law if it went through with the closures, which were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday.

“This is a huge win for Local 100 and the riders we serve,” TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “The MTA was trying to quietly, and without public input, impose service cuts that would make it more difficult and dangerous for riders to use the system.”

Stations Vice President Robert Kelley said: “We had a strong and well-crafted legal argument. We fought and we prevailed.”

Under the MTA plan, Station Agents would have been directed to lock their booths – and leave them empty – when going on meal breaks during the morning, afternoon and overnight shifts. Right now, “Lunch Relief” Station Agents fill the booths during the 30-minute meal breaks. That was going to end. If the plan was not derailed, booths would have been shuttered and unstaffed nearly 1,500 hours per week combined, Local 100 lawyer Arthur Schwartz said. (470 booths, three 30-minute meal breaks per 24 hours) There wouldn’t be a Station Agent in vacated booths to assist riders, including disabled riders and parents with strollers who need to be buzzed through access gates; riders having problems with faulty turnstiles or MetroCard vending machines; riders needing a Station Agent to alert the police of an emergency, Schwartz said.

The plaintiffs in the case were Stations Vice President Robert Kelley, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, and Michael Schweinsberg, President of the 504 Democratic Club, an association comprised of, and advocating for, persons with disabilities. TWU Local 100 argued that the booth closures amounted to a significant reduction in service and access, which would first require public hearings and MTA board approval. Since the MTA did not hold hearings or get board approval, the MTA can’t close the booths, the union argued.

Justice Perry agreed: “Based upon the testimony adduced at the hearing and evidence presented therein, the Court finds that the elimination of the duties of those transit workers who provided lunch relief for station agents will result in significant token booth closures within the City of New York. Such closures clearly constitute a reduction of services and a reduction of access to the system by the general public.”

If the MTA pushes forward with public hearings, TWU Local 100 will lead the fight to keep booths staffed, Utano said. “The Authority cynically used the pandemic as cover for eliminating our work, and for flouting the Public Authorities law,” Utano said. “Additionally, their stated position in court that closing individual station booths across the system for upwards of one and a half hours a day is a ‘minor inconvenience’ to New Yorkers was contemptible, and we will call them on this shameful and dangerous attitude if they decide to move forward with public hearings."

Sample letter from the MTA

Don't Let the MTA Cut Off Health Coverage to Your Dependents!

The MTA does an audit every 5 years to remove dependents from the health plan who are no longer eligible for coverage. This is an audit year.

In December you should have received a LETTER FROM THE MTA asking for certain documents to prove that your dependents are still eligible for coverage under the plan. If you do not submit the documents you were asked for, your dependents could end up without coverage.

Don't let that happen.

You must get the the documents to Ernst & Young, the MTA's auditor, by February 12, 2021.

There are three ways to send your documents in:

·       Go to https://MTA.eydeva.com via computer or mobile phone and log in using your User ID provided to you in the letter you received. This is fastest and safest.
·       Fax your documents to 1-888-349-9420
·       Mail your documents to PO BOX 851408, Westland, MI 48185-0690

If you have additional questions, you can call Ernst & Young at 888-649-2003, 8am to 8pm ET, Monday-Friday.
(If you only have single coverage, this does not apply to you.)

Eladio Diaz, Retired LE/S Chair, is Mourned

Local 100 is mourning the passing in late September of retired Executive Board Member and LE/S Division Chair Eladio Diaz. He was 64.

Brother Diaz was born on Christmas Day in Cataño, Puerto Rico in 1955. and was raised in Brooklyn. He attended Brooklyn Tech and graduated from John Jay HS in 1974.

After high school, he joined the U.S. Airforce and served until 1976. He studied electrical engineering at SUNY, Brooklyn.

Eladio worked as an electronics engineer at the Standard Microsystems Corp., Loral Corp., and Thompson Signal Devices before being hired by New York City Transit as an Electronics Equipment Maintainer in 1987. He retired from service in 2010.

In addition to Division office, Brother Diaz was a member of the Local 100 Executive Board. He used his professional experience in electronics to help modernize the union’s information technology capabilities as well. Brother Diaz was interred at Bushnell National Cemetery in Tampa, FL. He was a resident of Spring Hill, FL at the time of his death.

Union Members who Fell to COVID-19 Honored Starting Today Throughout the System

JANUARY 25 -- Photographs of our fallen pandemic heroes will be on display in subway stations across the system in a moving and beautiful tribute that begins today.

The MTA-commissioned memorial is an eight-minute slide show with portraits provided by family members, a new poem by a former U.S. Poet Laureate, and an original score for the piano. The tribute will be playing daily on digital screens in subway stations through February 7th at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. After each airing, the presentation immediately will be shown a second time.

In the MTA press release announcing the project to the public and the media, TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said:

“Transport Workers Union Local 100 will never forget our union brothers and sisters who perished in service to the city. It’s our fervent hope that with this memorial the riding public also keeps them in their hearts and minds. Stop for a moment during your daily travels and reflect on these departed heroes, the lives lost, and the heartbreak being carried by their families and co-workers. May they rest in peace.”

The memorial can be seen on this website: https://new.mta.info/covid-memorial

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 136 MTA employees at NYC Transit, the Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad, were infected and died due to the coronavirus, including more than 90 members of TWU Local 100. The tribute features 111 portraits collected by the authority. TWU Local 100 is working with a Brooklyn artist and design team on a permanent memorial at the Union Hall on Montague St.

Read the MTA's press release here.

Dr. Fauci's Message to the Transit Workforce

Training and Upgrading Fund Announces Tax Prep, Courses for 2021

Our Training and Uprading Fund has announced a free tax prep seminar and our Spring course schedule for 2021. Download the course schedule here.

New COVID-19 Testing Schedule -- Get Tested Frequently; Keep Yourself & Riders Safe

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20 -- The MTA's latest schedule for COVID-19 testing is here. It's fast and free. Make sure you get tested regularly.

Union Opens Contract Talks with Liberty Lines

IB Image

TWU Local 100 opened contract talks for the membership at Liberty Lines Transit this morning (January 20, 2021) at the Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown, NY. The union presented contract demands covering pension, medical, wages and Covid hazard pay.

Union President Tony Utano headed up the committee, which includes Pete Rosconi, VP of Private Lines, Vice President of MABSTOA and Chief of Staff Richard Davis, Private Operations Division Chair Carlos Bernabel, Division Vice Chair and Valhalla Depot Chair Tom Monaco, Yonkers Depot Chair Janet Rosa, Maintenance Chair John Cullen, Executive Board Member Manny Agosto, Local 100 Director of Organizing Frank McCann, and General Counsel Denis Engel (not shown in photo).

The current 5-year agreement expires on Feb. 28, 2021.

Local 100 Honors the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

JANUARY 18, 2021 – Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He became the most celebrated civil rights leader of the 20th Century. Today, on the national holiday established to commemorate his life and work, we remember Dr. King with these quotes:

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

"The time is always right to do what is right."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

We are proud of the TWU's history of financial and organizational support for Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was warmly welcomed to our International Convention in 1961 by our Founder, Mike Quill.

You can read Dr. King's address to the TWU here.

Fraternally,
Tony Utano, President
TWU Local 100

Union VP Richard Davis speaks in defense of Bus Operator Everton Beccan. Also speaking were Beccan's daughter, Winter, and Safety Rep Joe DiPaola

Union Defends Bus Operator Accused of Refusing Drug Test after Cross Bronx Expy Crash

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, MT VERNON -- At a press conference called by the Union, TWU Local 100 Vice President for MABSTOA Richard Davis defended the actions of Bus Operator Everton Beccan, 55, whose articulated city bus went through a guardrail on an overpass and came to rest dangling over the Cross Bronx Expressway at 11PM last Thursday night. Brother Beccan, suffering a broken jaw as well as facial lacerations and neck and back injuries, evacuated his passengers and called 911 for help.

Transported to the hospital by EMS, Brother Beccan was administered a breathalyzer test that revealed zero alcohol in his system. The MTA subsequently stated that he refused a urine test. The union called the press conference to show that in fact, a urine test was administered to Brother Beccan, the results of which are pending. Speaking to the press, Brother Beccan said that because of the COVID-19 restrictions at the hospital, the general confusion, and his serious injuries, the drug screen was not administered right away. Also discussing the safety issues at the accident scene was TWU Safety Rep Joseph DiPaola.

WPIX-TV livestreamed the entire press conference on Facebook and you can see that here. Scroll down to see the FB live broadcast of the press event.

Utano Urges Greater Police Presence on Buses, Subways: NYPD Says More Transit Cops Are on the Way

JANUARY 14 -- TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano met Thursday afternoon with high-ranking Police Department chiefs to discuss the plague of assaults impacting Local 100 members in the subway and bus systems. Utano stressed the importance of an increased, more visible police presence to both deter crime and provide quicker responses in emergencies.

“My members come to work to do a job, and they are going home with blood on their shirts,” Utano said. “These attacks are happening more and more, and they are getting worse.” The meeting included Chief of Department Terence Monahan, the second highest-ranking officer under NYPD Commissioner Dermot O’Shea; Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes; and Transit Bureau Chief Kathleen O’Reilly, who is in charge of subway policing.

In a bit of good news, Transit Bureau Chief O’Reilly said she expects the size of her division to grow in the near future. There are two classes of recruits in the NYPD Academy, and O’Reilly has been assured a “significant number” will be assigned to the Transit Bureau, she said. Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes said precinct officers conducted 30,000 bus inspections last year. She said she would welcome union input on which routes and locations are the most problematic. Also attending the meeting were Assistant Transit Bureau Chief Vincent Coogan and Inspector Steven D’Ulisse, commanding officer of the police Public Information office. Police brass agreed to additional meetings with union leadership to exchange ideas and information regarding safety initiatives and operations.

Union Members, Including Track Equip Maintainer and Car Inspector Deployed to DC with National Guard

TWU Local 100 members are heroes moving heroes in NYC – and citizen soldiers on the front lines of Democracy in Washington, D.C. Transit workers like Track Equipment Maintainer Ricky Tyson Jr. and Car Inspector Fritzner Neptune also are in the National Guard and have been deployed the capital for the inauguration of President-elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

With last week’s storming of the Capitol Building, and the potential for more insurrectionist violence, it’s an inauguration week unlike any other in modern history. “This is very different,” Sgt. Tyson, who was deployed for President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, said. “Last time we were pretty much doing traffic duty. Now, everyone is armed up. Since the insurgency, it’s pretty crazy.”

Tyson, 44, and Neptune, 36 are both sergeants in the 107th Military Police Company out of Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. Tyson is transporting soldiers to and from their posts. Neptune is working a security detail.
“I’m doing my duty,” Tyson said. “Everyone I work with has an important role.” Tyson has an extensive military background. He served four years in the U.S. Army, two years in the Army Reserves and has been in the National Guard for approximately 13 years. He completed two tours in Iraq. Neptune, who emigrated from Haiti, has been in the National Guard for seven years.

This is his first deployment for a presidential inauguration but like Tyson he’s been deployed multiple times to emergencies, including the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in September 2017 and the subway pipe bombing in Manhattan in December of that year. “Wherever they need us, we are there,” Neptune said.

Union Case to Block Elimination of Lunch Reliefs Under Final Court Review

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021 – TWU’s lawsuit to block the MTA’s planned elimination of 185 lunch relief jobs is now in the hands of NYS Supreme Court Judge Franc Perry. Judge Perry heard day-long testimony and cross examination from several witnesses for the union, including Vice President Robert Kelley, and one witness for the MTA, David Santoro, Chief Officer for Stations Environment and Operations at NYCT.

Union attorney Arthur Schwartz clearly established that the lunch relief function has been eliminated, and as a result, a total of 185 lunch relief jobs disappeared from the winter 2021 pick, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 31, 2021. He also demonstrated through testimony by Vice President Kelley that closure of hundreds of station booths for 90 minutes every day is more than an “inconvenience” as intimated by the MTA, but a burden on the handicapped community and a potential life-threatening danger to riders in the event of an emergency requiring power to be shut off to the third rail, or the intervention of Police, Fire or EMS.

The Authority held to its position that the MTA was being forced to re-allocate its Stations manpower in the face of a Covid-induced hiring freeze, and that that allows them to get around the law. Schwartz, in his closing remarks, restated that the MTA’s unilateral action is a clear violation of the Public Authorities Law that requires a 45-day notice and public hearings before such a change is implemented. The MTA countered that the law did not apply in this case because no one had actually lost their job.

Judge Perry adjourned the meeting at approximately 4:00pm and promised a judicious review of the case, and a prompt ruling. His ruling will occur before the January 31st start date of the new Stations pick.
We will keep you advised of any new information in this important case.