Dental Open Enrollment Extended

Dental Open Enrollment Extended to December 9, 2017

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News Coverage of Tragic Death Boosts Go Fund Me for Fallen Sister Julia Roman

Local 100 has been spreading the word about our history-making member's tragic death to encourage readers to donate to the family's GoFundMe site. Stories in the New York Post and the Daily News have noted that the late Julia Roman, TEMM, was a pioneering female Elevator Escalator mechanic who came up through the ranks after being trained in a program to bring women into non-traditional jobs. TWU Local 100's apprenticeship program is doing the same thing, bringing even more women into MOW. We again urge our members to contribute to the family's GoFundMe site, and to attend our sister's services. The GoFundMe page has raised nearly $36,000 in one day. According to the family, it will be used to allow family members the time off work to stay with the infant twins.

New Agreement Gives Raises to Station Agents Who Become Customer Service Ambassadors

NOVEMBER 15 -- Local 100 President Tony Utano has signed an agreement with management that protects jobs and gives raises to station agents who volunteer to be Customer Service Ambassadors. Station Agents who pick to become Customer Service Ambassadors, a new job title, will receive at least $1 more an hour in pay. The MTA will then fill those vacated booth positions. It also will not reduce the number of Platform Controllers or change their duties, the agreement for the one-year pilot program states.

“This is an important agreement that benefits both workers and riders,” Utano said. “Riders will get better customer service and our members will get access to new, better-paying jobs.” Up to 355 Ambassadors will move about stations with digital devices to help riders with directions, service changes and provide real-time train information. The MTA Board last month awarded Cubic Transportation Systems a contract to phase in a new fare-payment system with digital technology. The “contactless” system is expected to include riders paying at turnstiles with devices like iPhones.

The increasing reliance on technology is one of the reasons the pact negotiated and signed by Utano is so important, Derick Echevarria, Vice President of Stations, said. “It creates new jobs and moves us forward with technology,” Echevarria said. MTA officials said they envision the phase-out of the MetroCard to take until 2023. The agreement also states that “as technological advancements and improvements to the NYC subway system are implemented the parties will continue their ongoing discussions to preserve the jobs of Station Agents and to integrated job functions of the Station Agents with the improved technology to support an overall enhanced customer experience.”
 

Union Acts to Enforce Extinguisher Safety Recall at Transit Properties

TWU Scores Big Wins on Election Day

TWU Local 100 and New York statewide labor movement scored big wins on Election Day, with the biggest being the successful campaign to defeat Ballot Proposal #1, the New York State Constitutional Convention, or ConCon. TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano had made defeating the ConCon proposition the union’s number one election day target. 

After the announcement that New York voters had rejected the proposition in landslide fashion, Utano credited a strong grass roots effort by TWU and many other unions for the strong performance.  “As little as a month ago, polls showed that ConCon had a good chance to pass.  Our members and activists, and the entire labor movement deserve a lot of credit for turning it around into a huge victory for the security of our pensions, contracts, Workers Compensation and much more.” The stunning turnaround was reflected in the final vote – 78 percent voting no, and only 22 percent voting yes.

Other big wins for Local 100 include:

Westchester County Executive’s Race – TWU’s endorsed candidate , Democrat George Latimer, handily defeated two-term incumbent Rob Astorino.  Local 100 put forth a big effort to dump Astorino, who has opposed a key piece of County legislation that would grant earned paid sick days for County workers, including School Bus employees and workers at Liberty Lines Transportation. 

Yonkers City Council President – TWU Local 100 pushed hard to defeat incumbent Yonkers City Council President Liam McLaughlin.  Our candidate,Democrat Mike Khader, won a tight contest, and credited his victory in big part to the help of TWU and our activists.  We now have the County Executive and Yonkers City Council leadership in union friendly hands.

City Council District 43 – In one of the tightest races in the City, our endorsed candidate for the 43 City Council District, Justin Brannan, defeated his Republican opponent, John Quaglione, by less than 900 votes.  The two were running to replace outgoing Councilmember Vincent Gentile (D), who is term-limited, for a seat that encompasses the southern Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and parts of Bensonhurst, neighborhoods with a heavy Local 100 presence. Brannan will be a solid vote for union-friendly and transit friendly measures on the City Council.

Westchester County 16th District TWU’s endorsed candidate Christopher Johnson won his race in the 16^th District of the Westchester Board of County Legislators.  Johnson is a strong community activist and supports us on the earned paid sick days campaign, as well as other issues concerning our School Bus properties and Liberty Lines.

Con Con is Gone Gone!

By an overwhelming margin, New York State voters rejected a Constitutional Convention in yesterday's voting. A convention, that would have opened the State Constitution, and all of its provisions that protect worker pensions, collective bargaining rights, workers' compensation, and other safeguards was roundly opposed by labor. TWU Local 100 played a prominent role in the fight. Local 100 President Tony Utano participated in a labor walk, door knocking against Proposition 1. He was joined by other TWU Local 100 officers and rank and file members. Here's a round of applause to TWU Local 100 -- our members heard the message, got out to the polls, and delivered! Here's a message from the New York State AFL-CIO that says it all: http://nysaflcio.org/nyconcon-has-been-defeated/

TWU Local 100 Celebrates Indian-American Day

NOVEMBER 4: TWU Local 100 celebrated the Indian-American heritage of over a thousand of our members who work for New York City Transit. Enjoy the show!

TWU Sends Transit Workers to Puerto Rico

l-r Gus Moghrabi, Chair of TWU's School Bus Division, Pres. Utano, and Director of Organizing Frank McCann

TWU Announces Settlement With First Mile Square, Averting a Strike

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano announced Friday afternoon that First Mile Square bus workers will not go on strike Monday because a tentative deal has been reached with management. The approximately 600 bus operators, matrons and mechanics will get raises and one paid sick day, bringing them parity with employees of other school bus companies in Westchester.

“There won’t be a strike,” Utano said. “In the end, it’s all about the kids. We want to get them to school. That’s our job. But we needed an agreement that was fair to our members.”

The tentative contract agreement includes three annual raises for all workers of 3%, 3% and 3.5% The previous contract expired June 30th. The new 3-year deal will be retroactive to July 1. There remain some details to be hashed out but Utano said the buses would roll Monday morning. The school bus workers currently do not get any paid sick leave. Bus operators currently earn $24 an hour while matrons earn approximately $13 an hour.

First Mile Square transports students in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Mamaroneck. Transport Workers Union Local 100 represents more than 42,000 bus, subway and CitiBike workers in New York City and Westchester.

TWU Celebrates Chinese-American Heritage at our Autumn Moon Festival

Local 100 President Tony Utano and top leadership came to Sunset Park to celebrate the growing presence in transit of Chinese-American workers, who are following the path of many immigrant groups before them. We were joined by one of Local 100's greatest friends in the legislature, Assemblyman Peter Abbate, and by District Leader Nancy Tong. TWU International President John Samuelsen also attended and lauded our Chinese-American brothers and sisters. Enjoy the photos.

Climate Change is a Joke -- For Too Many

BY PETE DONOHUE 

Climate Change is a joke.

   Not really, but it’s treated as such by too many of us. We don’t loudly demand that our elected officials and institutions take aggressive crisis-level steps to address it. We don’t make drastic, wholesale changes to our lifestyles. If anything, we might quip that Climate Change isn’t such a bad thing - if it means we get to wear wear t-shirts and do yard work when we normally would be dressed for sub-freezing weather and chopping ice off the driveway. It’s one of those things you blurt out in passing to a neighbor you feel compelled to acknowledge with a brief exchange of words but don’t really want to get stuck in a conversation with.

   That has to change, or those bleak predictions by scientists will come to fruition in one form or another. According to one recent study, this is what NYC residents might experience in the not-that-distant future if we don’t somehow avoid this environmental train wreck: by mid-century, the number of heat waves per year could more than triple, the number of days over 90 degrees annually could double, and the sea level could rise by nearly two feet. By 2100, the city’s flood zone could cover 99-square miles. SuperStorm Sandy would be just another weekend.

    There’s no single magical cure but scores of steps – as large as sweeping transitions to renewal energy to composting at home – might get us out of this mess. Improving and expanding mass transit has to be given crisis-level priority to slash the number of people traveling in cars, including taxis. In that light, here are some of the initiatives that Transport Workers Union Local 100 either supports or is working directly to make a reality:

We Celebrate Italian Heritage at the Hall

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24 -- TWU Local 100 celebrated Italian Night 2017 in style, saluting our first Italian-American President, Tony Utano. Tony first thanked his parents, then his Union family, for their support in his long career as union official culminating in his appointment as TWU Local 100 President. Introduced by John Chiarello, now Vice President of MOW, Tony vowed to fight as hard for every Department and Division in the Union as he has for MOW. He drew special attention to the strike authorization vote that has just been held at First Mile Square, a school bus property in Yonkers that's facing managers who refuse to honor their request for wages on par with other school bus companies in Westchester. He also called on all members to donate to the Union's new fundraising site for hurricane relief. International President John Samuelsen proudly commended Tony Utano on his appointment while also taking the time to address the TWU of America's latest fight against outsourcing of union jobs at American Airlines. Entertaining the crowd before a festive dinner was Major League ballplayer Lee Mazzilli, who also shared his pride in his Italian Heritage. Enjoy the photos!

Blood Drive Event on Nov 7 at Coney Island Overhaul

The Union, as part of the joint labor/management wellness initiative, is supporting a blood drive at Coney Island Overhaul, is on November 7th. Read about it here. Please give blood!

President Utano addresses media to explain the value of all-door bus boarding

TWU, Advocates Join to Back All-Door Bus Boarding

OCTOBER 20 --  A press conference today outside of 2 Broadway to roll out the Union's recommendations for all-door boarding on NYCT buses was covered heavily by the news media, including the Daily News, AM New York, Channels 4, 5, and NY 1, as well as CBS Radio and WFUV.

As AM NY reported: "MTA bus operators have joined transit advocates in calling for the authority to institute all-door boarding on city buses to speed up service and boost safety By allowing commuters to board buses at both the front and back doors, the time operators spend at the curb would be reduced, improving notoriously unreliable service, advocates said. The union representing operators — Transport Workers Local 100 — agrees and believes the policy will also improve safety by further removing operators from mediating fare evasion.

“First of all, it’s going to move buses more efficiently, and our bus operators are not going to have to worry about arguing with passengers, getting spit on, getting assaulted, getting coffee thrown on them; those days got to be over with,” said newly elected TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano on Thursday. “Our people got to come to work and be able to drive these buses in a safe manner.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Local 100 Launches Hurricane Relief Fund, Through Union Website

A Local 100 advance team has been on the ground in San Juan since Oct. 14, 2017 working with Local officials and other unions to help the in the relief effort.  A bigger contingent of TWU Local 100 volunteers will be dispatched in the near future to lend a hand as well. Click here to make a secure donation to the Relief Effort.