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With TWU, NYCT Honors Our Members in Recognition Ceremony

MTA top brass along with MOW Vice President Tony Utano honored union members in a recognition ceremony at Metrotech Center. Beginning the program, NYCT President Carmen Biano first thanked NYCT members who came out to help after the horrific Metro North crash last week. Then, along with VP Utano, he and other MTA officials honored members for heroism and commendable actions on the job.

IN MEMORIAM

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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
July 18, 1918 - December 5, 2013

June, 1990: Mandela speaks at New York City Hall

Mayor-elect de Blasio Speaks at TWU Local 100 Union Hall in Brooklyn

TWU Local 100 donated our hall at 195 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights to New York Communities for Change’s awards ceremony on December 3. Among those honored was Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. In this short video shot at the union hall, he talks about the value of NYCC. In the beginning of the video, he speaks of the powerful contributions of organizer John Kest, who founded New York Communities for Change and also the Working Families Party, and the progressive movement's debt to him in New York.

Bus Operator Marlene Bien-Aime in court with ADA Hilary Chernin, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the People of the City of New York

Steangeli Medina Pleads Guilty to Bus Op Assault; Gets Jail Time

DECEMBER 3 -- The long wait for justice in the case of Kingsbridge Bus Operator Marlene Bien-Aime, who was brutally assaulted in June of 2011, has been resolved by a guilty plea from the assailant in Bronx Criminal Court. Steangeli Medina, who was a minor when the assault was committed but is now over 18, accepted a plea deal today to a D Felony, the top count of the indictment, and sentence of six months behind bars, five years probation, anger management, and an eight-year order of protection that will prevent her from boarding any bus driven by Ms. Bien-Aime. Ms. Medina also waives any right to appeal. She admitted her guilt on the record and stated that she assaulted Ms. Bien-Aime following a dispute over her dog not being allowed on the bus without a carrier. In a victory for the union's efforts to increase penalties on those attacking our members, Ms. Medina pled guilty to section 120.05(11) of the penal law, which is the statute designed to prevent assaults on MTA employees while in their official business capacity.

Quality Members Ratify Contract

Members at Quality Brothers have ratified their first Local 100 contract by a 65-10 vote.

Last year, school bus workers at Quality decided to dump the existing house union and looked around for a union that would give them the representation they were looking for. They decided on TWU Local 100.

Local 100 won the subsequent representation vote by a wide margin. New members at Quality elected a bargaining committee which set to work.

School bus in NYC has been on a roller coaster thanks to the Bloomberg administration’s use of bidding to set off a race to the bottom. The uncertainties notwithstanding, members at Quality have won a solid contract which is a far cry from the deep concessions management was looking for.

Our congratulations to members at Quality and to the staff members who aided them in the organizing campaign and the contract fight.

[Photos: Quality members at a union meeting earlier this year, along with Sr. Director of Operations Curtis Tate]

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Holistic Health and Wellness at Work

TWU Local 100’s Women’s Committee presented our first Holistic Health & Wellness Fair on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For the first time, we presented expert presentation on body, mind, and spirit. Here are some of the photos from that event.

TWU Kids Sparkle at Basketball Clinic

With WNBA NY Liberty great Kym Hampton as head coach, thirty TWU Local 100 kids drilled, dribbled, passed, and shot in a gym on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Organized by MOW Vice President Tony Utano (himself a former b-ball coach), and Liz Wilson of our Women's Committee, the event was sponsored by "the Disability Guys," through the TWU Local 100 Rewards Website. Every kid got individual attention from the NY Liberty players and assistants, as parents watched and cheered. Also on hand were TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips, Division Chair of LES John Chiarello, and TWU International Womens Committee Chair and MaBSTOA Bus Operator Gracie Portlette-Shade. Next up: A clinic at Madison Square Garden! Details TBA.

Solidarity at Quill as TWU 291 Visits

South Beach meets Times Square! TWU Local 291 ("We Move South Florida)'s top leadership toured Quill Depot on November 15, in the middle of of a solidarity visit with TWU Local 100. Our brothers and sisters from the Sunshine State got some New York hospitality and ballcaps at the Depot. Local 291 President Clarence Washington (pictured) addressed members in the swing room, while Division Chair Richie Davis looked on. Washington's talk followed a presentation by John Samuelsen on the contract fight and the MTA's improving finances. You can check out 291's website here.

We thought of it first.

MTA Takes Credit for Money-Saving Idea from the TWU

Today's (November 15) AM New York carries a front-page story on "5 Cool Ideas to Improve Subways." Chief among those is an "idea" to put stores into Subway arcades where they can generate rent for NYCT. This of course was a centerpiece of TWU Local 100's "MTA Money Thrown Away" campaign two years ago -- that the MTA should fully utilize those underground spaces not just for retail tenants but also for office space for the Authority itself. The MTA ignored the campaign, and defends the money pit of 2 Broadway (lifetime lease cost: $2.3 billion) as a sound deal for taxpayers. Think of what it could save if it instead used the vast underground spaces, complete with HVAC and fiber optic lines, as its headquarters! Check out the campaign's website here.

TWU Veterans Are Recognized for Service; Advance Legislative Campaign

Seventy-five TWU Local 100 veterans, from all branches of the U.S. military, were recognized for their service to our country at Local 100's annual Veterans Appreciation Day at the new Union Hall on November 14. Under the chairmanship of RTO Vice President Kevin Harrington, who also served as MC, the service veterans were treated to a hot dinner, speeches from two of our most committed political allies, and videos honoring our military and explaining the origins of Veterans Day as a memorial to World War I. Assemblyman Peter Abbate and State Senator Joe Addabbo both spoke.