President Chiarello and Other Top Officers Meet Newest Hires, Encourage Solidarity

AUGUST 6 — You've taken a civil service test for a transit job. You may have waited years to be called up. Then the day comes when you get the letter to report for training, and you’re on your way to a career with New York City Transit.

If you’re one of the thousands of New Yorkers who follow this path each year, this is when your life has the potential to really change—and you start on the one-year probationary period that determines whether the job is right for you and you are right for the job.

The first week is jam-packed, and management seems to have the upper hand when you get hit with a blizzard of regulations and policy prescriptions. But now it’s Tuesday, time for your trip to the Union Hall to hear about how best to get ready for your new career—and how the TWU has your back.

Yesterday our newest members were visited by President John V. Chiarello and the other members of the Top Four, who gave the fresh crop of hires some more food for thought in addition to their lunch.

President Chiarello, who ascended to the top spot earlier this year, talked about how he started as a Car Inspector but quickly moved to Signal Maintainer. He also discussed his career as a Union rep, working his way up through the ranks to eventually become Vice President of Maintenance of Way, then upwards to President.

Chiarello cited the number of assaults on transit workers and cautioned the new hires to be cautious once they begin dealing with the riding public. “Everywhere you go, you have people with mental issues,” he said. “Take a position of retreat, call the police, do not confront people out there.”

He recapped the recent 3.5% raise the Union won in the last round of bargaining and said without a union, that accomplishment would be impossible. Chiarello then told the new group how important their participation would be to win the next contract.

“We are going to be fighting, and we are going to need every single person in this room,” Chiarello added. “There'll probably be one really big rally. That's when we want to fill the streets.”

Secretary-Treasurer Carlos Bernabel, who came up as a Bus Operator working at a private company – Liberty Lines – represented by TWU Local 100, also addressed the group.

“I'm proud to be part of the Union,” he told the new hires, “I never dreamed to get where I am – I started from the bottom, all the way to the top.” Bernabel invited all the new members to attend the Dominican Day Parade, which will take place in Manhattan this coming Sunday. Dominican-born, he will be honored as Ambassador of Hope at the event.

Chiarello then introduced Administrative Vice President Alexander Kemp, as the representative of a younger generation of transit workers. Kemp spoke of his own first probationary year as “the worst experience of my life,” saying that he had a lot of obstacles to be overcome including a layoff on the first of his career. He spoke of the importance of union power:

“Your family is Local 100. Everything inside this room gives you more power – because at the end of the day, the people who have to fight the MTA are sitting next to you," Kemp said.

“The general public has a very hard time giving you the prestige that you deserve, but you set the standard for yourself,” said Kemp.” It’s very important that you never let anyone steal that from you. I have a great life not because I’m a union rep, but because of the people I represent and the people I stand for.”

Recording Secretary Shirley Martin wondered aloud if there were future Station Cleaners and Bus Operators in the room and warned everyone, regardless of their job, to show up to work on time. "If you live on the moon, you have to come down early," she said, to laughter from the group. "I'm dead serious. They've been firing a lot of people."

Before leaving, President Chiarello reminded the room full of TWU Local 100's freshest members that they had a new level of security. “The union is here for you, and we’ll always support you.”