News from TWU Local 100

Mayor and Governor Announce Subway Safety Plans

In a welcome sign of cooperation and focus, Mayor Adams and Gov. Hochul announced Thursday new subway initiatives to increase safety and reduce the homeless population dwelling underground.

Adams, who was endorsed by TWU Local 100, said street-level police officers not responding to emergencies will be directed to park their cars and enter subway stations for security checks – and to increase the uniformed presence in the system. Subway-dedicated officers in the Transit Bureau will be directed to ride and walk through trains instead of congregating on mezzanines, he said. And officers sitting behind desks who can be of better service on patrol will be placed into transit patrol, he said, appearing with Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

“Omnipresence is the key,” Adams said at a press conference at the Fulton Transit Center in Manhattan. Hochul said the state will fund new homeless outreach teams consisting of mental health professionals and build more affordable housing with support services.

“We’re happy the new governor and new mayor are working together to improve safety for both riders and workers,” TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “Riders come in and out of the system, but this is our office. This is where we spend 8, 10, or even more hours a day. The mayor and governor are giving the issue of public safety in the transit system the focus and attention that’s required.”

Officials said the goal was not to hound the homeless with enforcement for low-level infractions but to get them the help they need to move on with their lives, and out of the transit system. Adams indicated that he believes laws need to be enforced or adapted to deal with the thorny issue of handling subway dwellers who refuse services, including alternative shelter.

Watch the coverage from WPIX-TV above.

Enroll Online for Our Spring 2022 Courses

Our Training and Upgrading Fund (TUF) offers courses to Union members on site and online. Offerings include computers and electronics, learning software productivity tools like MS Word and MS Excel, Math, Spanish, and sign language. Also, a course for women on exploring non-traditional careers. Get all the details by clicking on image at left for a full copy of the two-page flyer.

Latest COVID Memo on Testing

Management has issued a memo on COVID-19 testing which explains testing procedures for members who choose not to get vaccinated. It also explains how to provide proof of vaccination. You can read it here.

We Celebrate Indian-American Heritage -- Photos from the Event

Five hundred transit workers hailing from India and Southeast Asia celebrated with Union leadership at a festive evening November 20th in Elmont. Officiating at the celebration were longtime CED officer Jolly Eapen and the younger members of the Committee. A great time was had by all -- the food was first rate, and Bollywood dancers and singers entertained the crowd. Enjoy the pix!

1010WINS Reports on How Local 100's Carriage Horse Drivers are Fighting the Mayor

Local 100 Shop Steward and Carriage Horse Driver Christina Hansen goes on 1010 WINS to support her Brothers and Sisters in Central Park and their iconic industry. Listen here.

Conductor Trevor Thomas displays his injury from a BB gun shot

Witnesses in Attack on Conductor Sought

Police are looking for witnesses to help identify and apprehend a subway rider who shot a conductor in the face with a BB gun on the No. 2 line Monday night.

Conductor Trevor Thomas was observing the platform when he heard a the ‘pop’ of the BB gun and felt a stinging pain in his nose shortly after 9 p.m. at the 219th St. station in the Bronx. The shooter, who was a teenager wearing black clothing, ran from the station. Thomas, who was treated and released at the hospital, was assisted by union officers.

He still has to see a specialist to get the pellet removed from his nose, he said.

“This is a heinous attack on a transit worker which underscores the need for greater protections and stronger laws to keep our members safe,” RTO Vice President Eric Loegel said. “We’re all very lucky this conductor is doing OK, but it easily could have been worse. The union demands the assailant be brought to justice.”

Anyone with information on this attack should call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS

Infrastructure Bill Includes Worker Assault Protections

NOVEMBER 6 -- The massive infrastructure bill just passed by Congress isn’t just good news for mass transit riders and motorists – but also for transit workers enduring assaults and abuse on the job.

Transit agencies across the country will receive hundreds of millions of dollars combined for efforts to better protect transit workers, and the workers themselves will have a say in how that money is spent. Agencies like the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must establish a safety committee with an equal number of union and management representatives. The committee must adopt a plan with strategies to reduce the risk of assaults and submit the document to the Federal Transit Administration for approval – before getting infrastructure money from the feds. At least .75% of FTA funding an agency receives must be spent on worker-protection initiatives.

“This is a major victory for organized labor and for transit workers,” TWU International President John Samuelsen said. “We pushed hard on this issue and our efforts have borne fruit. There is a now a proper focus on mitigating the relentless scourge of worker assaults and abuse. Agencies will get additional funds for this and will have to listen to the workers when developing their plans. It’s a huge step forward.”

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano praised the worker-safety provisions: “Transit workers come to work to do a job, not be punching bags for unhinged riders and criminals. We want to go home to our families at the end of our shifts safe and sound, not wind up in the emergency room.”

TWU Local 100 Congratulates Mayor-Elect Eric Adams

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano issued the following statement on the election of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams as the next Mayor of New York City.

“On behalf of the 46,000 members of the TWU Local 100, I wish to heartily congratulate our endorsed candidate for Mayor, Eric Adams, for his sweeping win as the 110th Mayor of our great City. His election means that for the first time in almost 30 years transit workers will have someone in City Hall who really has our backs.

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“Last April, all of the major candidates for Mayor sought our endorsement at a special meeting of the Local 100 Executive Board. Eric Adams was the one candidate who presented himself head and shoulders above everyone else on the issues that are important to transit workers. But it was more than that. It was more than just being right on the issues; on crime in our subways, on assaults against transit workers, on homelessness in the system.

“As a transit cop for 20 years, Eric worked side by side with us every night. He rode the subway trains with us. He hung out with us in the break rooms. He protected us during the worst of the bad old days. In some cases, he relied on us to protect him when he needed it. He, more than anyone, knows what transit workers go through every day and every night to keep this City moving. And he more than anyone knows the sacrifices that transit workers made during this horrible pandemic to keep it together for New York.

“As a legislator in the State Senate; and as Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams has supported us 100 percent of the time. We view Eric Adams not as a politician. We view him as a friend who will always be there for us when we need it. Transit workers should all be thrilled with his election as Mayor.”

Anthony and Dorota Nigro in happier times.

Gov. Hochul Signs TWU’s Diesel/Cancer Legislation

Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law a landmark bill – championed by TWU Local 100 and the TWU Local 100 Retirees Association – that would allow a family to file for death benefits through Workers Compensation for a diesel exhaust related illness.

The bill especially impacts the families of retirees, who for years have filed for death benefits due to diesel exposure through Workers Compensation only to be routinely rejected. That all changed in 2014, when Dorota Nigro, with the help of the union, won a breakthrough lawsuit for Workers Compensation benefits after her husband, Anthony Nigro, a MaBSTOA Bus Maintainer, died of lung cancer a few months after he retired in 2012.

This legislation recognizes the causal effects of diesel exhaust in cancer and lung related illnesses. It allows families whose claims were rejected in past years to refile for benefits, and of course, it provides an easier path for claims in the future.

Local 100 President Tony Utano said: “This is an important bill that we have been fighting for the past few sessions in the Albany. I’m happy that we were finally able to bring it across the finish line for those transit families who will ultimately benefit from this victory.”

Brother Anthony Nigro had worked for 28 years as a Maintainer at MTA facilities. He was working at Quill Depot when he retired. The family’s oncologist told Brother Nigro’s widow, Dorota Nigro, that he believed diesel exposure over many years was a cause of the cancer.

Attorney Robert Grey, of Grey & Grey, LLP, filed a victorious claim on behalf of the Nigro family with the Workers Compensation Board. That lawsuit in 2014 set the stage for the union’s legislative fight in Albany. “In a legal sense, someone had to be the first to climb Mt. Everest in litigation on diesel exhaust,” said Grey. “Hopefully, this is our Mt. Everest, and the path for other claimants who have been harmed by diesel exposure is less difficult.”

Now, thanks to the union’s legislative victory, a grieving family will be able to seek financial justice for the loss of their loved one. The bill, sponsored in the NYS Senate by James Sanders (D-Queens), and in the Assembly by Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Brooklyn), is named for Brother Nigro.

MTA COVID Update -- October 18

The MTA has rolled out its new Covid-19 testing program.

If you are unvaccinated - and testing is taking place at your work location - you are required to get tested every week.

Supervisors are not going to direct you to get tested. If a testing station is at your work location, it’s up to you to participate.

It’s free and easy. Protect yourself, your co-workers, and your families from the deadly virus.

It can take days before Covid-19 symptoms emerge.

Testing is the only way to detect the virus early so you can get treatment right away and can quarantine to prevent spreading it to others.

For more information, including the times and locations of testing sites, go to MTA Covid-19 Resource Center: https://new.mta.info/covid-19/employees