News from TWU Local 100

Union Announces Winner of our Trash Train Contest

DECEMBER 10 -- TWU Local 100 Administrative Vice President Nelson Rivera announced the winner of our trashtrain.net contest at the Union Hall, presenting a check for $500 to CTA Tania Garcia, out of Pelham Barn, who snapped the photo of feces between cars on the #6 train. Brother Rivera explains how dirty cars -- the MTA said that over 2,000 had been isolated due to soiling this year -- inconvenience riders and cause train delays because they must be taken out of service. And that in turn results in rider anger against train crews and Cleaners. Local 100 started the contest at www.trashtrain.net in October to bring attention to the MTA's elimination of certain Cleaner jobs at terminals.

Here’s Your New Contract: Complete MOA and Departmental Agreements

We are happy to post all documents related to the new four-year agreement with the MTA for TA, OA and MTA Bus members. It includes the full Memorandum of Agreement, and all Departmental agreements. Ballots for the ratification vote will be mailed to each member’s home by the American Arbitration Association on Dec. 18, 2019. The ratification count will take place on Jan. 9, 2020.

Read the Memorandum of Agreement & Departmental agreements (PDF)

Utano Takes to Airways to Thank Transit Workers for Contract Solidarity

Local 100 began running a new 60-second radio spot this morning on 1010 WINS in which President Tony Utano thanks the membership for standing behind the union during our contract battle with the MTA. The spot also extends a Happy Holidays wish to all New Yorkers. The spot will run until Christmas.

Click on the image to hear the spot.

Statement from Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano on the tentative contract reached with the MTA.

“We had a real fight on our hands but transit workers stood together and we were able to secure a fair contract. Our Executive Board overwhelmingly approved the tentative agreement this morning. The American Arbitration Association will now conduct a ratification vote with members receiving ballots in the mail.”

The TWU Local 100 Executive Board, comprised of elected union officers from all divisions, voted 42-4 in favor of the agreement. Three board members abstained.

Read the highlights of the proposed agreement here.

Post-Rally Message from President Tony Utano

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The turnout by more than 10,000 transit workers at our contract rally on October 30th sent a powerful message to the MTA, City Hall and Albany that TWU Local 100 is determined to win a fair contract for this membership. Thank you, brothers and sisters. It was an amazing event that has supercharged TWU Local 100 and the entire New York City labor movement.

So, here’s where we are: MTA Chairman Pat Foye, out of the gate, infuriated transit workers by painting us in the media as overtime cheats and pampered no-shows. He piled on those insults by taking aim at me personally. He labeled me a criminal, and then doubled down by insinuating that my Italian heritage predisposed me to corruption. Foye has drawn his line in the sand both in the media, and in our initial meetings with him. He expects us to pay for our own contract raises with crippling givebacks.

He obviously doesn’t know me, or transit workers, very well.

We are ready to meet with the MTA at a time and place mutually agreeable. And we are ready to negotiate for as long as it takes to get to where this membership needs to be. The ball is in their court. In the meantime, I ask every member of this union to stay fully engaged in the process, and be ready to take additional steps when called upon.

Stay strong, stay informed, stay united!

Our Powerful Rally in Pictures

OCTOBER 30 -- Ten Thousand transit workers filled lower Manhattan opposite MTA Headquarters at 2 Broadway, with crowds extending down Broadway to Water Street and wrapping around the plaza to Battery Park. Union leadership, along with our allies in organized labor and supportive political leaders, demanded a fair contract for the men and women who move New York. Click on the handles at right to see all the images of this powerful rally.

TWU Local 100 Official Union Anthem Video - Produced for our Massive October 30 Rally

Union’s Rally Video Blends TWU’s Militant History With Today’s Urgency for a Fair Contract.

Produced by Local 100 Communications for the TWU Local 100 contract rally on October 30, 2019. Download the music track here.

Transit Workers Rock the MTA’s World With a Powerful Message That TWU Will Not Be Denied

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OCTOBER 30 -- Upwards of 10,000 transit workers – wearing TWU blue on their backs and in their hearts – flooded the streets outside the MTA’s Broadway headquarters and sent a heart-pounding message across New York City and State: Local 100 members are ready for anything to win a fair contract and to turn back management’s challenge to the power of a united workforce.

The sea of transit workers extended from the MTA’s doorstep at 2 Broadway southward to Water Street and westward across Bowling Green plaza to Battery Park. Answering the union’s call for a demonstration of unity and strength, Local 100 members starting arriving at the rally site early, even as the staging area and police barricades were still being set up. By 5:00pm, the time the union’s fliers, emails and web posts urged members to begin gathering, the streets were already filled to overflow.

The police detail assigned to the rally decided early that keeping a lane open down Whitehall St. for emergency vehicles was hopeless against the crush of blue-colored humanity. It proved a wise decision, as two marches by anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 more transit workers descended on the rally from the south and the north. MABSTOA members, carrying banners displaying pride in their union and their depots, powered up Broadway along Battery Park from South Ferry and across Bowling Green Plaza into the fray. TAS members streamed southward from City Hall to join the rally just as it was beginning. These powerful displays added another jolt of energy to an already supercharged crowd.

Mike Capocci, 39, is Sworn in as Union's Newest Executive Board Member

OCTOBER 31 -- Mike Capocci (center) was sworn in today at Transport Hall by President Tony Utano to serve on the union's Executive Board. Also serving as a Division Vice Chair at the LaGuardia Depot in Queens, Capocci was elected in August by his members to take the seat vacated by longtime union officer Hector Comrie, who retired. He received 62% of the votes cast in a three way contest. Mike began working for Triboro Coach in 1999. The company was absorbed into MTA Bus in 2006. Mike is married with two young boys. Congratulations!

In Queens, Politicians Call on MTA to Address Filth and Trash on Trains

State Sen. Leroy Comrie, (D-Queens) chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, called on the MTA Tuesday to increase the number of subway car cleaners to address filth and trash on trains. Comrie joined Transport Workers Union Local 100 Administrative Vice President Nelson Rivera, Vice President Eric Loegel and transit workers at the 179th St. F-train station in Jamaica, Queens, to criticize the MTA for scaling back on subway car cleaning. Former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, chair of The Friends of The QNS, a non-profit advocating for a revival of the Lower Montauk Branch of the LIRR to a transit line, also came to lend support.

The MTA has cut nearly 80 Car Cleaner positions over the last few years and many stations at the end of the line – like 179th St. – do not have any Car Cleaners on the overnight shift at all. “I’m here to support TWU Local 100 and their effort to make sure every train is clean for the riders who come here to take one of the longest rides in the city,” Comrie said. “We have a ridership that is second to none in terms of volume in this area and it’s a ridiculous effort by the MTA to reduce cleanliness in the system and to remove cleaners from the system. The MTA needs to look at management and get rid of all those people making $250,000 and up instead of getting rid of cleaners. We need more cleaners.”

IB Image Rivera and other Local 100 officers handed riders flyers promoting the union’s Trash Train contest. In the contest, riders can submit photographs of the dirtiest, filthiest subway cars they encounter - and have a chance to win $500. Voters decide which subway car scene depicted is the worst of the bunch. The contest is raising awareness of the Car Cleaner job cuts. Nearly 200 photos have been submitted, and the contest has been covered by every major television station and newspaper in the city. “The MTA has to clean up its act and make subway car cleaning a much greater priority,” Rivera said. “Riders should not have to ride in disgusting conditions. Train crews should not have to contend with cars fouled with urine, feces and other sickening situations that exist because of these job cuts.”