AUGUST 26 -- Statement from Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano on the MTA warnings that layoffs are possible because the federal government has failed to provide emergency transit funding:
TWU Local 100 will fight tooth and nail against layoffs.
Transit workers put this city and state on their backs and carried them through the deadly pandemic, risking their own health and lives. Thousands became sick and more than 131 of us died. Layoffs would be an unimaginable shameful betrayal.
The MTA has other options, including: giving all capital construction work to in-house transit workers, not profiteering private construction companies; getting rid of all high-priced consultants and lawyers; have in-house workers take over all cleaning and disinfecting functions not already taken back from private contractors; restoring subway service between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.; and offering early retirement incentives.
AUGUST 25 -- Job security, mask enforcement, and increased COVID-19 testing were among the top union goals TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano pressed in a hearing several state Assembly and Senate committees held on Tuesday.
Utano also spoke reverently about the transit workers who perished, stressing the loss goes far deeper than statistics, which “don’t tell the story of who these wonderful people were; the vital jobs they did in the fight against this pandemic; and, of course, the important lives they lived outside of their jobs as transit workers.”
Utano, joined by Stations Vice Chairman Robert Kelley, testified after MTA Chairman Patrick Foye spoke at length about the MTA’s multi-billion-dollar budget gaps caused by the pandemic. “Regardless of the financial concerns, layoffs of front-line workers cannot be tolerated,” Utano testified. “We faced the dangers, and paid dearly in death and illness, for that responsibility. To now be told that our jobs may be expendable because of a financial shortfall is unacceptable, and quite frankly a break in a vital trust that keeps us coming to work no matter what the risks.”
Utano asked the senators to adopt a statement declaring “no layoffs, no matter what.”
Kelley, a virus survivor who was hospitalized for three weeks, told the Senate and Assembly members the MTA should resume cash transactions in Station Agent booths. Transactions were suspended earlier in the pandemic because of heightened concerns about the virus possibly being spread by the exchange of currency. “We can’t assist the ridership because we don’t have money in the booth,” Kelley said. “We know we want to safeguard our members, and that is the first thing of all. I want safety first, but there are ways and methods we can use to bring money back to the booth.”
Sen. Leroy Comrie, co-chairman on Senate Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, gave his support. “There needs to be an understanding that essential workers need to be maintained ahead of management and consultants,” Comrie said. “You are the tip of the spear. That has to be commended. That has to be respected.”
The hearing was conducted by the Senate Transportation Committee, the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, and the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.
New GVS Benefits are Coming on September 1 for TA/OA & MTA Bus Members. Just click on the image for the downloadable flyer. This package of new benefits is made possible as a result of the 2019 contract with the MTA.
A group of high schoolers who entered the TA's apprenticeship program in 2017, have now graduated to Transit Electric Helper Titles. Those in the group shot (holding certificates) are assigned to Car Equipment. Lisette Moscoso (in featured photo), will go to Elevator and Escalator. Local 100 Vice Presidents Shirley Martin and John Chiarello, and CED Division Chair Matt Ahern are pictured with graduates.
AUGUST 18, 2020 – Local 100 President Tony Utano today announced that the union is working with a prominent New York-based art and design firm and local artists to create a permanent and powerful memorial for the scores of Local 100 members who were lost to the Coronavirus. Utano made the announcement at the union’s regularly scheduled Executive Board meeting at the Union Hall in Brooklyn.
He said that the wall-sized, multi-media memorial will be located on the 3rd Floor at 195 Montague, and will respectfully display the names of those who died from the disease.
In a statement to the membership, Utano said: “This memorial will be a fitting tribute to our fallen heroes and to all transit workers who put this City on their shoulders and carried it forward during the darkest days of this terrible plague, and continue to do so despite the ongoing dangers.”
“It’s not enough that we have won line-of-duty death benefits for the families. It’s not enough that we have secured a much safer workplace for all transit workers as the pandemic continues to endanger us all. It’s not enough to simply have a one-time event with speeches and candles to memorialize our brothers and sisters. This is the reason for creating what I know will be an unforgettable memorial to remind everyone who enters our union hall of the terrible losses we are all feeling, and as well, that transit workers made an enormous contribution to defeat this virus.” Photo: The Local 100 Executive Board met on August 18 observing social distancing.
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020 -- TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips and CED Vice President Shirley Martin this morning inspected subway cars with air-purification technology designed to kill COVID-19.
The technology, which features ultra-violet lights installed in the air-circulation system, creates a low dose of airborne hydrogen peroxide in the air, giving the subway car a disinfected smell reminiscent of a hospital room or doctor’s office.
The question is whether the low dose of airborne hydrogen peroxide is strong enough to kill COVID-19. An outside laboratory has taken air samples and running tests, management officials said. “We are trying to do some new and positive things,” Secretary-Treasurer Phillips said. “The virus does not discriminate. We have to work together on this.”
NYC Transit’s vice president of CMO, John Santamaria, gave Phillips, Martin and Local 100 Safety Officer Dennis Jones a tour of the technology at the Corona Barn in Queens. The NYCT Office of System Safety and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are also participating in the tests.
About 75% of the air in a subway car at any given time is recycling through the interior network of vents, ducts and filters, management officials said. About 25% has just been drawn into that network from outside the train car. Each subway car in the test has two sets of ultra-violet lights in the ceiling air-circulation ducts. The lights produce an undetectable dose of hydrogen peroxide in the air at a level that is far below the safety threshold established by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, management officials said.
All of the air in a subway car is replaced with air from outside 18 times an hour, or once every three minutes, Santamaria said. All the air in a car will go through filters inside the duct every 60 seconds, he said. The air-circulation system includes vents pumping air from ceiling vents in cabs used by Train Operator and Conductors, he said. NYC Transit also is testing higher-grade filters as a possible means to reduce the transmission of the virus by riders. The New York Times recently published an explanation of the air circulation inside subway cars and you can read it here.
JULY 29 -- 17 Transit Workers, formerly Traffic Checkers and Cleaners, have completed three years training as Carpenters, Masons, and Plumbers. They were congratulated in a ceremony at the Union Hall by TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano and Training and Upgrading Fund Director Charles Jenkins.
AUGUST 6 -- TWU International President John Samuelsen joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other political and labor leaders to discuss this critical moment in mass transit. In order for us to allow our mass transit systems to recover from the brutal economic impact of low ridership due to COVID-19, we have to ensure that Congress passes the latest relief bill. That bill provides $32 billion for mass transit funding across the nation, as well as funding for hazard pay. The take-away is for transit workers to call their Senators to urge them to pass the bill. For those of us with family or friends in Red States, this is especiallly crucial, as those Senators may be voting against. This is an all-hands-on-deck effort to save our mass transit systems.
AUGUST 6 -- Local 100 officers did a walkthrough today with management to inspect new crew quarters for train crews on the 2/5 lines at the corner of Nostrand Avenue. This much needed new facility features air conditioning, heat, TV, refrigerator, microwave, restroom and other amenities for a comfortable break area. The space will replace the current crew quarters at Flatbush Avenue, which is among the smallest in the system.
AUGUST 3 -- The union is looking to harness the power of our Florida retirees to show Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott the wisdom of voting in favor of government support for mass transit and for hazard pay for frontline workers, including our members.
Our 3,000 TWU Local 100 retirees in the Sunshine State are a powerful political force -- because they are solid citizens and they vote. New York's two Senators -- Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand -- are already on board, but what we need are a few "red state" Senators to join them.
Members and officers, including President Tony Utano, gathered Friday at Ulmer Park Depot in Brooklyn to wish Depot Chair Nat Jenkins good luck in his forthcoming retirement. Among those joining the event, from the left, are: Division Chair Armando Serrano, Sal Ferrera, former Ulmer Park Chair James “Momo” Manzella, Nat Jenkins, President Utano, Vice Chair Rhonda Hopkins, Drew Ramirez and Elston Morris.
JUNE 29 -- TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer discussed efforts to secure federal funding for mass transit and hazard pay during a meeting Wednesday afternoon. Schumer (D-NY) and Utano spoke for about 25-minutes via Zoom: Utano from the Union Hall on Montague St., and Schumer from his office in Washington, D.C.
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in May passed a second proposed coronavirus relief package. It includes a $3.9 billion bailout for the MTA – and money to provide individual bonuses up to $10,000 each for essential workers for their work during the pandemic.
TWU Local 100 has engaged public health experts from New York University to research the infection risks transit workers have faced during the pandemic, COVID-19’s impact on the membership and the MTA’s management of the crisis.
This is an intense effort by independent scientists, who have no affiliation with the authority, to gain a better understanding of how the virus spread through the workforce. They will then recommend what additional steps are needed to protect transit workers.
“This will be the first time outside medical experts gather information from transit workers about their experiences during the pandemic and put the MTA’s actions under the microscope,” Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “We can’t bring back our fallen heroes. But we can keep working to improve safety on the job and that’s what this is all about. Local 100 has been consulting with experts from the NYU School of Global Public Health for months as we faced this unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. This is an important next step not just for NY transit workers but transit workers everywhere.”
It’s hard to believe. Coronavirus cases, unemployment numbers are climbing and TWU workers are still on the frontlines, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent the Senate home without debating the HEROES Act, the next coronavirus economic relief package. Despite the health risks, thousands of TWU frontline workers continue to do their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s time for the Senate to do theirs.
Photo: The Local 100 Executive Board met on August 18 observing social distancing.
It’s hard to believe. Coronavirus cases, unemployment numbers are climbing and TWU workers are still on the frontlines, but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent the Senate home without debating the HEROES Act, the next coronavirus economic relief package. Despite the health risks, thousands of TWU frontline workers continue to do their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s time for the Senate to do theirs.