News from TWU Local 100

The NYC-MTA Funding Dispute: Why is Local 100 in this Fight?

In the 1990s, the MTA agreed to take over the job of providing specialized transportation for New York City's disabled and senior citizens who have difficulty walking. It took on this burden at the request of NYC government. Since then, the demand for paratransit service, known as Access-A-Ride, has soared.

Similarly, the MTA provides massive subsidies for student transportation in the city. It gives the city Department of Education valuable student MetroCards for school kids to ride buses and subway trains specifically to get to class and then back home. Essentially, the MTA acts as a complex yellow school bus apparatus on behalf of New York City.

These two programs are clearly outside the core mission of the MTA, yet the money to cover the cost comes right out of the MTA's Operating and Maintenance Budget. Providing these services to NYC residents is undeniably the responsibility of NYC government. But City Hall only reimburses the MTA for a small percentage of the costs to provide these necessary services to its residents. It is de Blasio's obligation, but transit riders and transit workers are getting stuck footing the bill.

Not reimbursing the MTA for these services, which NYC asked to be provided, is the equivalent of hiring a contractor to perform work for you - and then refusing to pay for it.

There's a name to describe this. It's called theft of service. And right now, the de Blasio administration is stiffing the MTA for more than $530 million a year by refusing to pay up for services that NYC has requested.

That's more than $530 million that annually could be used to help pay for real solutions to the subway crisis, which would improve the riders' experience - and our work lives.

TWU International President Samuelsen explains how de Blasio is pulling money out of the MTA Operating and Maintenance Budget in this CBS news story by Marcia Kramer: (just click on the image to get to the story).

Station Agent Percillia Augustine-Soverall

Station Agent's Assailant Gets 7 Years in Prison

A career criminal who tried to rob a Station Agent - and set her booth on fire - was sentenced to 7 years in state prison. With more than a dozen TWU officers and members in the courtroom, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bruce Balter also ordered that the arsonist serve the full term behind bars.

The victim, Station Agent Percillia Augustine-Soverall, was traveling and unable to attend. But she previously said she would be satisfied with that level of punishment for the convict, Everette Robinson, who pled guilty last month to attempted robbery last month. Augustine-Soverall also said she found “forgiveness in her heart” for the criminal, according to the prosecutor who handled the case.

“We forgive but we never forget,” Vice President of Stations Derick Echevarria told reporters. Echevarria said he would have preferred a life sentence for Robinson but acknowledged 7 years in state prison is no walk in the park.

Approximately one year ago, Robinson sprayed gasoline into the aperture of Augustine-Soverall’s booth at the Nostrand Ave. station on the No. 3 line in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. “Let me get the money or I’ll light you up,” Robinson said, according to the prosecutor. He then ignited a shirt, which dropped to the ground, causing smoke to fill the station, authorities said. Augustine-Soverall was not physically injured. Robinson pled guilty in July to attempted robbery, a felony. Prior to this case, he was arrested 12 times as an adult, authorities said. He was convicted of six misdemeanors and six felonies.

Balter was the judge who restored Local 100’s dues check-off in November 2008. The check-off had been suspended by another judge 18 months earlier as penalty for the 2005 strike.

TWU Mourns Station Agent Darryl Goodwin, 54

AUGUST 16 - It is with great sadness that TWU Local 100 announces the death of Darryl Goodwin, the Station Agent who was unjustly arrested by police and suspended by MTA bosses in May. The union and Goodwin’s family will take whatever steps are necessary to have Goodwin’s good name cleared posthumously, Vice President of Stations Derick Echevarria said. The family did not immediately reveal the cause of Goodwin’s death but he did have high blood pressure and other health issues, Echevarria said. Funeral arrangements are pending.

“We believe this unwarranted arrest had an underlying affect on his demise,” Echevarria said. “Darryl was stressed out and working a lot of overtime to recover the wages he lost. He never should have been arrested.”

Echevarria, who knew Goodwin, 54, since high school, described him as a “gentle giant.” “He was a big guy but a really nice guy,” Echevarria said. “Our hearts are broken.” Goodwin was working at the 59th St./Columbus Circle station when a suspected shoplifter fleeing a store above ground jumped the turnstile, police said.

Lt. Richard Khalaf of Midtown North said in a police complaint that his pursuit was thwarted because Goodwin twice refused to buzz him through a service gate – a charge Goodwin adamantly denied. Goodwin said that he remotely opened the gate from the booth as soon as he became aware of the situation in the busy station.

As police were arresting Goodwin at the booth for obstructing governmental administration, officers said he resisted. Police said Lt. Khalaf’s finger was cut when Goodwin wrested his Station Agent’s badge back from the officer’s hand. Police also charged Goodwin with assault and resisting arrest.

Another Station Agent in the booth denied the police officers’ version of events. “I witness [sic] the cop snatch the badge out of Mr. Goodwin’s hand and cut himself!” the Station Agent wrote in a statement to NYC Transit. “Mr. Goodwin never resisted arrest! He complied with everything the officer asked him to do.” The police complaint states that it was “impossible” for Khalaf to pursue the shoplifter without being buzzed through the service gate even though police officers are issued MetroCards for emergencies.

In a Facebook exchange, an officer identifying himself as Khalaf said he couldn’t jump the turnstile. You can read that post here. “I’m also 50 and might be able to scale the turnstile but might have busted my ass in doing so. Recovery time ain’t what it used to be.”

NYC Transit suspended Goodwin without pay after his arrest. Goodwin settled disciplinary charges by accepting a penalty of approximately 60 days without pay, Echevarria said.

TWU Celebrates at the Dominican Day Parade 2017

SUNDAY, AUGUST 13 -- TWU Local 100 pulled out all the stops to make our 2017 Dominican Day Parade celebration the best ever. Proudly marching with the first US Congressman of Dominican heritage, Adriano Espaillat, TWU International and Local 100 President John Samuelsen led the union's leadership up 6th Avenue. Local 100's impressive float and costumed traditional dancers were a special attraction that energized the crowds. Earlier we served traditional Dominican fare to the 200 union members and families who came to the event. A political breakfast in Inwood began the day, where Congressman Espaillat, Public Advocate Tish James, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and other friends of the TWU enjoyed mangu and salchichon. TWU Local 100 t-shirts highlighting Dominican heritage were given to all attendees. Enjoy the show!

The TWU Welcomes Staff Analyst Titles to Union Family

TWU Local 100 proudly welcomes more than 500 new members to the union family. They are the MABSTOA Staff Analysts and Associate Staff Analysts, who voted overwhelmingly to join the TWU in a contested union election conducted over the past month by the NYS Public Employment Relations Board.

PERB released the final vote count on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 – (216 for TWU; 41 for the Organization of Staff Analysts and 27 for no union).

Members at two other recently organized MABSTOA groups, the Comp & Telecom titles and Career and Salary titles, overwhelmingly ratified contracts bringing solid wage increases and other important gains. Those contract victories played a substantial role in the Staff Analysts election win.

In a message to the new members, TWU International and Local 100 President John Samuelsen said: “We were thrilled when PERB released the results of the union election demonstrating the overwhelming support for TWU among you and your co-workers. We will not let you down. We will proceed determinedly to begin negotiations for a first contract to deliver what has been promised during the campaign.”

Samuelsen added: “We all look forward to moving forward together in unity.”

New TWU TV Ad Rips Mayor ‘delays-io’ for Stiffing Subway Fix Plan

TWU is ratcheting up the pressure on Mayor de Blasio for refusing to participate in the MTA’s comprehensive Action Plan to bring relief to NYC subway riders.

This is the second television ad TWU has released as part of its six-figure television, print and digital advertising campaign demanding de Blasio allocate a fraction of the city’s $4 billion surplus in taxpayer money to reverse the summer of hell NYC subway riders are enduring.

The first installment was a 30-second TV commercial that includes riders telling de Blasio to stop playing politics and match the funding , including the vital monies targeted for emergency repairs, pledged by Gov. Cuomo. “The mayor can’t run and he can’t hide from his responsibility,” TWU International and Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “This is a crisis. The subway is in a meltdown. The riders, who are the mayor’s constituents, are suffering. We need real leadership, not finger pointing and political punting. No more delays -Mayor delays-io must step up now.”

TWU also has taken out full-page ads in major newspapers, including the New York Daily News as part of its campaign.

TWU “Crashes” de Blasio Presser to Tell the Mayor He Must Act Now

TWU Local 100 members and officials attended today’s de Blasio presser at Brooklyn Borough Hall at which the Mayor officially announced his call for the State Legislature to pass a millionaire’s tax on the City’s wealthiest residents to provide as much as $500 million annually to the MTA Capital Plan and $250 million for half-fares for the City’s working poor.

IB Image As the Mayor rambled on for 13 minutes about the legislation, TWU members held up signs telling the Mayor that he needed to spend some of the City’s current $4 billion surplus to fund at least half of the proposed MTA $850 million fix that would add as many as 2,700 new transit jobs in most titles. Local 100 Secretary Treasurer Earl Phillips told the media, after the Mayor left the stage, that TWU likes the concept of a millionaire’s tax, but that any help from the tax plan wouldn’t be available for at least another year, if not longer, if ever. “There is a crisis now, not next year,” said Phillips. “The Mayor has a $4 billion surplus. The MTA has a legitimate plan to address the current crisis. The Mayor needs to dip into that surplus now to help ease the current emergency.”

This morning, the fourth ad in the union’s campaign to get the Mayor to take responsibility to fix the subways, appeared in the New York Daily News on page 13.

Samuelsen Demands Mayor Pay Half for Subway Fix

NY1 Online: Labor pains for the mayor

TWU President John Samuelsen explains why the city's transit workers union is pressuring Mayor de Blasio.

New Ad Targets Mayor de Blasio’s “Lies”

Local 100 kept turning the screws on Mayor de Blasio today (Monday July 31st) with a second print ad in the New York Daily News and other newspapers calling out the Mayor for “lying” about his responsibility to help fund the MTA’s plan to end the “summer of hell” for transit riders.

The new ad depicts de Blasio as Mayor Pinocchio under the headline, “Liar, Liar, Tracks on Fire.” It tells the Mayor that he “can help reduce train breakdowns, signal failures and track fires by allocating a fraction” of the City’s $4 billion surplus.

The first ad in the series, which appeared in last Thursday’s (July 27th) Daily News, showed the Mayor atop his $4 billion surplus under the headline, “Get Off Your Cash” and help fund the MTA plan.

The union is also running TV ads on the same subject on NY 1 News, and several other big cable outlets that includes riders telling de Blasio to stop playing politics and match the funding pledged by Gov. Cuomo.

Utano to City Hall: Your MTA Board Members Must Step Up

JULY 26 – TWU Local 100 Vice President of Maintenance of Way Tony Utano, speaking for the union at today’s meeting of the MTA Board of Directors, said the City of New York should shoulder the responsibility for funding half of the projected cost to allow the MTA to overcome its recent reliability crisis. Calling the proposal by MTA CEO Joe Lhota that outlines a new multi-million dollar spending plan “solid,” Utano noted that the money will go in part towards inspecting subway signals and tracks more thoroughly, responding to equipment failures faster, and to implementing a much more aggressive schedule for replacing equipment. Speaking to city appointees on the MTA Board, he said: “no more political games, no more avoiding responsibilty. What’s fair is fair. If the Mayor doesn’t want to pay his fair share, city board members should just walk away and resign.”

Also testifying for the Union was Station Agent and EB Member Vanessa Jones, who said transit workers face frustration in dealing with the overcrowded system as well as verbal and physical abuse on the job, which she called “overwhelming.” We are targets, she said. She spoke of the importance of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s commitment to fund half of the project costs of system restoration and urged City representatives to do the same.