News from TWU Local 100

Union contingent at the parade includes top officers Samuelsen, Phillips, and Crisp-Sauray

TWU Stands Out at West Indian Day Parade

With TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips as an honored guest, union officers and rank and file stepped off from Buffalo Avenue to march down Eastern Parkway in high style. Our procession took nearly a city block, with the TWU float backed up by the union van, an MTA bus, and the TWU International's touring bus. We stepped down the parkway with acclaim from thousands of spectators, meeting up with President Samuelsen and union staff who were cooking up jerk chicken and curry for the rank and file. During the parade, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made a point of stopping at the Local 100 area to shake hands with President Samuelsen to acknowledge the union's endorsement of him and running mate Kathy Hochul in the September 9th Democratic Primary. TWU Local 100 was an official sponsor of the event, and Earl Phillips had a place at the podium at the political breakfast that began the event.

Samuelsen to New York Times: Your Attack on Union Role in Guiding Public Pensions is Off-Base

In an opinion piece in the Chief-Leader, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen ripped the New York Times for its doom-and-gloom coverage of public pension plans such as NYCERS, which more than 25,000 TWU members at the Transit Authority belong to. In an August 3 front-page story, The Times sounds alarm bells about the cost of our pensions, but fails to share an important piece of news: NYCERS and the other 4 NYC public pension funds just had their best year in memory, notching a 17% return on portfolios of stocks, bonds, and alternative investments. The New York Times’s hidden agenda, Samuelsen says, isn’t so hard to figure out. The Times is doing the bidding of Wall Street by implying that union trustees shouldn’t have a voice in the pension funds’ investments. This opposes the legitimate role that unions play in protecting their members and holding companies to ethical standards. Read the opinion piece here.

Why We're Supporting the Sept. 21 People's Climate March on the United Nations

Mass transit systems in coastal areas will be hard-hit by global warming as sea levels rise and extreme weather increases. In this video, TWU Local 100 Conductor Roxanne Coombs says why she'll be at the People's Climate March on September 21, which takes place just two days before world leaders are scheduled to meet at the United Nations for another attempt to agree on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Governments aren't doing enough. It's time for people power and Union power to force them to act. For more information, and to join our climate change group, text CLIMATE to 313131. For information about the march, go to the People's Climate March site. Read the union's page on global warming here.

TWU Marches in Dominican Day Parade; Samuelsen Honored

Spirits were high on August 10 as TWU Local 100 members marched up Sixth Avenue as part of the Dominican Day Parade. Front and center with the TWU-ers was Schoolbus Shop Steward Viviana Guzman (in white), who also attended the earlier Dominican Day breakfast in Washington Heights, where TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen was honored with the Community Service Award presented by Dominican political leaders including Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Both politicians have a strong record of supporting mass transit funding and have joined Local 100 in our campaigns.

Veterans Committee members toured Ground Zero and remembered the sacrifices made on that day.

NY Conference Putting TWU in Vanguard for Veterans

TWU members who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces came to the TWU Local 100 Union Hall from all over the United States this week in a historic conference to promote and expand Veterans’ benefits state by state and nationally. At the initiative of the TWU International, the Airline Transport Division’s Veterans Committee has joined forces with TWU Local 100’s own Veterans to create a national TWU Veterans Committee which includes all of our industrial sectors.

The Conference was opened by TWU Local 100 President and TWU International Executive VP John Samuelsen, who welcomed participants from across the country to New York and pledged his and the union leadership’s full support for the Conference’s agenda. “The TWU of America is committed to putting new resources into the political arena for our Veterans,” he said. “It’s time to bring increased national attention to bringing more benefits to the men and women who have served our country.”

Local 100 Joins Family of Slain Bus Operator William Peña in Speaking Up for Justice

JULY 14 -- Defense Motion Rejected: In NYS Supreme Court today, Justice Gregory Carro rejected arguments put forward by Harvey Slovis, attorney for Dominic Whilby who is being tried for the murder of Bus Operator William Pena. Slovis wanted the Judge to throw out the top two counts, for Murder in the Second Degree, claiming that Whilby was too drunk to understand what he was doing. Reading a two-page decision, Carro made it clear that the Grand Jury’s indictments were well-founded because Whilby had made many rational decisions even while drunk. He ultimately drove a stolen bakery truck into Pena’s M14 crosstown bus, killing the Operator.

In Photos: Local 100's Westchester Family Day

At TWU Local 100’s first Westchester Family Day at Redmond Park in Yonkers, the Union’s top leadership shared a day of food, music, and fun for the kids with 400 TWU members and families mainly from school bus properties in Westchester. Bus Operators from Liberty Lines, our largest property in the County, also came to the event. At the event, TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said that the Union expects to put forward a renewed commitment to organizing new properties in Westchester this fall. Enjoy the photos!

Samuelsen Testifies at DOT Hearing: TWU Setting Benchmarks in Preventing Transit Worker Assaults

JULY 11 -- TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen brought the union's wealth of experience in combating transit assaults to Washington when he participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's transit assault prevention summit at DOT headquarters today. Samuelsen -- also representing the TWU of America as International Executive Vice President -- told DOT officials including Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan about the dangers transit workers face day in and day out as they fulfill their mission of transporting millions who depend on a safe ride on public transit buses and trains. "For many transit workers in America, going to work every day means putting themselves in harm's way," he said. "Transit workers who deal regularly with the public often have no guarantee of their physical safety on the job. They are the face of the system. If a rider is frustrated because their bus is late, they take it out on the driver."

At TWU Breakfast, State Comptroller DiNapoli Renews Commitment to Working People

At an educational breakfast hosted by TWU Local 100 at our union hall in downtown Brooklyn, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli re-emphasized his commitment to keeping State pension money in defined benefit plans and said his office is exploring new ways to increase retirement security for all New Yorkers. The event, coordinated by TWU Political Action Director Marvin Holland and his team, brought together Brooklyn clergy and small business owners to hear DiNapoli and other leaders including TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen, Treasurer Earl Phillips, and NYC Central Labor Council head Vinnie Alvarez. In remarks to the audience, DiNapoli said that New York State's retirement system, of which he is the sole trustee, had a 13% rate of return on investments last year. "When people say that public pensions are unsustainable, it's just not true," he said. He received big applause for fighting to keep the retirement system's pension funds paying out defined benefits to pensioners, rather than converting them to 401 (k) type plans in 2012. He noted that defined benefit plans help retirees cope with market downturns, whereas 401 (k)'s can get wiped out by market fluctuations.

Pride on Display as TWU Parades for LGBT Members

TWU Local 100 Recording Secretary LaTonya Crisp-Sauray and Admin. VP Angel Giboyeaux boarded TWU's float to celebrate and support LGBT members of the union during the annual pride parade down Fifth Avenue from 39th Street to Greenwich Village. The union provided food and refreshments to rank and file and union officers, as well as extending hospitality to marchers from other unions including the Carpenters, who assembled with transit workers as the parade began. TWU Local 100 is proud to support diversity in our workforce and stand against discrimination of any sort in employment.