Local 100 President Tony Utano expressed his gratitude to Police Officers involved in a harrowing assault on Platform Conductor Dennis Russo at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn. Brother Russo was shoved to the tracks in an unprovoked attack this past Tuesday. Cops were on the scene quickly to signal an incoming train to stop, while another officer pulled Brother Russo from the tracks. Brother Russo was released from the hospital yesterday (Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020) and Eyewitness News Reporter NJ Burkett was there to interview him. Local 100 Vice President Eric Loegel is also interviewed in the clip.
President Utano released the following statement about developments in this case:
"I want thank the NYPD officers involved in this incident for saving our union brother, Conductor Dennis Russo, from certain death and for their quick actions in apprehending this dangerous criminal. I will be reaching out to Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez to ensure that justice is served in this case. Transit workers have enough to worry about with all that is happening in our country and our city without having to be constantly looking over their shoulders for an unprovoked, violent attack."
AUGUST 27 -- On August 26, MTA Chairman Pat Foye sent a letter to TWU Local 100 members, and workers across all MTA operating agencies, saying that if immediate relief from the federal government is not received, "hard choices" would have to be made by the Authority. He outlined scenarios that include service reductions of 40%, fare increases, and layoffs. The Union's response came today, with President Tony Utano roundly rejecting Foye's implied demand for concessions from the transit workforce.
President Utano cites Foye for a failure of leadership in which the CEO is prepared to wave the white flag of surrender before trying his utmost to obtain additional funding for the transit system. Further, Foye is not considering cost-saving measures outlined by the Union, including immediately ending payments to consultants and suspending work being performed by contractors that can instead be done by the in-house workforce. President Utano notes that the TWU has been fighting hard in Washington DC for additional transit funding and that he expects the MTA to not give up the fight. He concludes the letter to Foye by saying: "Go back to work, and find better solutions."
At today's MTA Board Meeting, TWU International President John Samuelsen told other Board members that organized labor would not make concessions to help the Authority balance their budget against huge shortfalls caused by COVID-19. He said that transit workers have paid in blood to keep the system running as they worked through the pandemic, and that layoffs would be "an absolute betrayal" of riders and workers.
AUGUST 26 -- Statement from Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano on the MTA warnings that layoffs are possible because the federal government has failed to provide emergency transit funding:
TWU Local 100 will fight tooth and nail against layoffs.
Transit workers put this city and state on their backs and carried them through the deadly pandemic, risking their own health and lives. Thousands became sick and more than 131 of us died. Layoffs would be an unimaginable shameful betrayal.
The MTA has other options, including: giving all capital construction work to in-house transit workers, not profiteering private construction companies; getting rid of all high-priced consultants and lawyers; have in-house workers take over all cleaning and disinfecting functions not already taken back from private contractors; restoring subway service between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.; and offering early retirement incentives.
AUGUST 25 -- Job security, mask enforcement, and increased COVID-19 testing were among the top union goals TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano pressed in a hearing several state Assembly and Senate committees held on Tuesday.
Utano also spoke reverently about the transit workers who perished, stressing the loss goes far deeper than statistics, which “don’t tell the story of who these wonderful people were; the vital jobs they did in the fight against this pandemic; and, of course, the important lives they lived outside of their jobs as transit workers.”
Utano, joined by Stations Vice Chairman Robert Kelley, testified after MTA Chairman Patrick Foye spoke at length about the MTA’s multi-billion-dollar budget gaps caused by the pandemic. “Regardless of the financial concerns, layoffs of front-line workers cannot be tolerated,” Utano testified. “We faced the dangers, and paid dearly in death and illness, for that responsibility. To now be told that our jobs may be expendable because of a financial shortfall is unacceptable, and quite frankly a break in a vital trust that keeps us coming to work no matter what the risks.”
Utano asked the senators to adopt a statement declaring “no layoffs, no matter what.”
Kelley, a virus survivor who was hospitalized for three weeks, told the Senate and Assembly members the MTA should resume cash transactions in Station Agent booths. Transactions were suspended earlier in the pandemic because of heightened concerns about the virus possibly being spread by the exchange of currency. “We can’t assist the ridership because we don’t have money in the booth,” Kelley said. “We know we want to safeguard our members, and that is the first thing of all. I want safety first, but there are ways and methods we can use to bring money back to the booth.”
Sen. Leroy Comrie, co-chairman on Senate Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions, gave his support. “There needs to be an understanding that essential workers need to be maintained ahead of management and consultants,” Comrie said. “You are the tip of the spear. That has to be commended. That has to be respected.”
The hearing was conducted by the Senate Transportation Committee, the Senate Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, and the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions.
New GVS Benefits are Coming on September 1 for TA/OA & MTA Bus Members. Just click on the image for the downloadable flyer. This package of new benefits is made possible as a result of the 2019 contract with the MTA.
A group of high schoolers who entered the TA's apprenticeship program in 2017, have now graduated to Transit Electric Helper Titles. Those in the group shot (holding certificates) are assigned to Car Equipment. Lisette Moscoso (in featured photo), will go to Elevator and Escalator. Local 100 Vice Presidents Shirley Martin and John Chiarello, and CED Division Chair Matt Ahern are pictured with graduates.
AUGUST 18, 2020 – Local 100 President Tony Utano today announced that the union is working with a prominent New York-based art and design firm and local artists to create a permanent and powerful memorial for the scores of Local 100 members who were lost to the Coronavirus. Utano made the announcement at the union’s regularly scheduled Executive Board meeting at the Union Hall in Brooklyn.
He said that the wall-sized, multi-media memorial will be located on the 3rd Floor at 195 Montague, and will respectfully display the names of those who died from the disease.
In a statement to the membership, Utano said: “This memorial will be a fitting tribute to our fallen heroes and to all transit workers who put this City on their shoulders and carried it forward during the darkest days of this terrible plague, and continue to do so despite the ongoing dangers.”
“It’s not enough that we have won line-of-duty death benefits for the families. It’s not enough that we have secured a much safer workplace for all transit workers as the pandemic continues to endanger us all. It’s not enough to simply have a one-time event with speeches and candles to memorialize our brothers and sisters. This is the reason for creating what I know will be an unforgettable memorial to remind everyone who enters our union hall of the terrible losses we are all feeling, and as well, that transit workers made an enormous contribution to defeat this virus.” Photo: The Local 100 Executive Board met on August 18 observing social distancing.
Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020 -- TWU Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips and CED Vice President Shirley Martin this morning inspected subway cars with air-purification technology designed to kill COVID-19.
The technology, which features ultra-violet lights installed in the air-circulation system, creates a low dose of airborne hydrogen peroxide in the air, giving the subway car a disinfected smell reminiscent of a hospital room or doctor’s office.
The question is whether the low dose of airborne hydrogen peroxide is strong enough to kill COVID-19. An outside laboratory has taken air samples and running tests, management officials said. “We are trying to do some new and positive things,” Secretary-Treasurer Phillips said. “The virus does not discriminate. We have to work together on this.”
NYC Transit’s vice president of CMO, John Santamaria, gave Phillips, Martin and Local 100 Safety Officer Dennis Jones a tour of the technology at the Corona Barn in Queens. The NYCT Office of System Safety and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are also participating in the tests.
About 75% of the air in a subway car at any given time is recycling through the interior network of vents, ducts and filters, management officials said. About 25% has just been drawn into that network from outside the train car. Each subway car in the test has two sets of ultra-violet lights in the ceiling air-circulation ducts. The lights produce an undetectable dose of hydrogen peroxide in the air at a level that is far below the safety threshold established by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, management officials said.
All of the air in a subway car is replaced with air from outside 18 times an hour, or once every three minutes, Santamaria said. All the air in a car will go through filters inside the duct every 60 seconds, he said. The air-circulation system includes vents pumping air from ceiling vents in cabs used by Train Operator and Conductors, he said. NYC Transit also is testing higher-grade filters as a possible means to reduce the transmission of the virus by riders. The New York Times recently published an explanation of the air circulation inside subway cars and you can read it here.
Photo: The Local 100 Executive Board met on August 18 observing social distancing.
