News from TWU Local 100

Massive Turnout Marks 9/11 Commemoration and Medal Event

SEPTEMBER 9 -- The awesome power of transit's response to the attack on America was on display at the Union Hall last night, as two hundred Local 100 members who worked at Ground Zero gathered to remember 9/11 and receive medals and commemorative pins. President John Samuelsen, himself a 9/11 responder, keynoted the evening by vowing that the union would fight to achieve the public recognition our members so clearly deserve. Medals for those with documented 9/11 injuries and participation pins for all who were part of the effort will continue to be awarded from this day forward, he said. It's the union's intent that everyone who served should be recognized as we build to a major commemoration on the 15th anniversary of 9/11 next year.

Transit's central role in the 9/11 rescue and recovery effort took center stage in a documentary produced by filmmaker Winston Mitchell, who was in the audience, as well as in a display of over 50 images from 9/11 that showed TWU Local 100 members carrying covered stretchers from the rubble, cutting beams, hauling cars and heavy debris and evaluating damage to subway tunnels at the site.

Working off a 14-year old MTA list of Ground Zero responders, the Union sent letters to over 1600 or our members who responded to 9/11. Many others were also assigned and hundreds more volunteered, serving without pay. The full complement of transit workers at Ground Zero was over 3,000. Eleven members were awarded a medal of special recognition for those who suffered injuries or illness from their work at Ground Zero and were compensated by the Victim's Compensation Fund, the City of New York, or Workers' Compensation. Three of those awards were given posthumously to friends of family members because those union members died of their 9/11-caused ailments.

Maintenance of Way VP Tony Utano gives Participation Pins to members who served at Ground Zero.

At Grand Ave, Good Deeds Get Recognized

The daily paper AM New York brought an uplifting story to their readers on Friday about how TWU Local 100 is getting over 200 kids ready for school with new backpacks. As Reporter Rebecca Harshbarger writes: "Bus drivers gave away hundreds of backpacks to children at a homeless shelter near their Queens depot on Friday...About 220 children from the shelter boarded the bus, picked up a backpack with supplies, and then climbed down from the back of the bus...." Read the entire story here. Congratulations to everyone who pitched in to make this event a success!

Press Coverage Lauds Vision Zero Settlement as "Big Victory for Bus Drivers"

WABC's Eyewitness News reporter Lucy Yang called the union's settlement with the de Blasio administration "a big victory for bus drivers."

Local 100's six-month, multi-pronged campaign to force the City of New York to recognize that the flawed Vision Zero law had to be readdressed to halt the senseless arrest of non reckless Bus Operators involved in so-called "right-of-way" accidents has produced a major TWU win.

Late on Monday afternoon, Aug. 31, 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Brian M. Cogan executed a settlement between Local 100 President John Samuelsen and the City of New York's Corporation Counsel (the municipal Department responsible for all of the City's legal affairs) that produces the needed changes in interpretation of the Vision Zero statute to protect Bus Operators and all transit workers who operate MTA vehicles.

The settlement does the following:

1.     Under this settlement, a right of way" accident unto itself is no longer considered proof a Bus Operator failed to exercise "due care" behind the wheel.  Now there must be evidence that the operator did not use "due care" in the operation of the vehicle.  The settlement describes "due care" as "that care which is exercised by reasonably prudent drivers."

2.     It instructs the New York City Police Department to issue a "Finest Message" within 45 days to instruct Police Officers  how to investigate bus-pedestrian accidents in compliance with this Vision Zero settlement. 

Local 100 President John Samuelsen said of the important triumph: "I'm truly proud of this membership and our Division Officers who so effectively organized and executed street actions to underscore the union's position that the unwarranted and humiliating arrest of our Bus Operators would not stand.  The union's Political Action efforts made our case effectively to City Hall, the City Council and to Albany, and pumped up the pressure through paid and unpaid media campaigns to score this victory.  Our entire union can celebrate this important win for transit workers throughout the City." View the five-page settlement here.

In Photos: 2015 Tuskegee Airmen Depot Family Fun Day

TWU families from the Tuskeegee Airmen Depot turned out for their fourth annual Family Day at 99th Street and Lexington Avenue. There were two beautifully restored vintage transit buses and a bouncy castle for the kids, and plenty of great food for everyone. TWU Local 100 Recording Secretary LaTonya Crisp-Sauray spent the day with our families, along with MaBSTOA Division Chair Richie Davis, who was given an award along with Depot Chair Dwayne Ruffin by City Councilman Ben Kallos. Also on hand to congratulate our two officers was City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, who represents the adjacent district. A big crowd pleaser was dunk-the-chair, during which children of our members took shots and throwing a baseball into a red switch that triggered the chair above a water-filled tank. Ruffin was doused a dozen times! Enjoy the pix.