All News

TWU Sends Transit Workers to Puerto Rico

l-r Gus Moghrabi, Chair of TWU's School Bus Division, Pres. Utano, and Director of Organizing Frank McCann

TWU Announces Settlement With First Mile Square, Averting a Strike

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano announced Friday afternoon that First Mile Square bus workers will not go on strike Monday because a tentative deal has been reached with management. The approximately 600 bus operators, matrons and mechanics will get raises and one paid sick day, bringing them parity with employees of other school bus companies in Westchester.

“There won’t be a strike,” Utano said. “In the end, it’s all about the kids. We want to get them to school. That’s our job. But we needed an agreement that was fair to our members.”

The tentative contract agreement includes three annual raises for all workers of 3%, 3% and 3.5% The previous contract expired June 30th. The new 3-year deal will be retroactive to July 1. There remain some details to be hashed out but Utano said the buses would roll Monday morning. The school bus workers currently do not get any paid sick leave. Bus operators currently earn $24 an hour while matrons earn approximately $13 an hour.

First Mile Square transports students in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Mamaroneck. Transport Workers Union Local 100 represents more than 42,000 bus, subway and CitiBike workers in New York City and Westchester.

TWU Celebrates Chinese-American Heritage at our Autumn Moon Festival

Local 100 President Tony Utano and top leadership came to Sunset Park to celebrate the growing presence in transit of Chinese-American workers, who are following the path of many immigrant groups before them. We were joined by one of Local 100's greatest friends in the legislature, Assemblyman Peter Abbate, and by District Leader Nancy Tong. TWU International President John Samuelsen also attended and lauded our Chinese-American brothers and sisters. Enjoy the photos.

Climate Change is a Joke -- For Too Many

BY PETE DONOHUE

Climate Change is a joke.

Not really, but it’s treated as such by too many of us. We don’t loudly demand that our elected officials and institutions take aggressive crisis-level steps to address it. We don’t make drastic, wholesale changes to our lifestyles. If anything, we might quip that Climate Change isn’t such a bad thing - if it means we get to wear wear t-shirts and do yard work when we normally would be dressed for sub-freezing weather and chopping ice off the driveway. It’s one of those things you blurt out in passing to a neighbor you feel compelled to acknowledge with a brief exchange of words but don’t really want to get stuck in a conversation with.

That has to change, or those bleak predictions by scientists will come to fruition in one form or another. According to one recent study, this is what NYC residents might experience in the not-that-distant future if we don’t somehow avoid this environmental train wreck: by mid-century, the number of heat waves per year could more than triple, the number of days over 90 degrees annually could double, and the sea level could rise by nearly two feet. By 2100, the city’s flood zone could cover 99-square miles. SuperStorm Sandy would be just another weekend.

There’s no single magical cure but scores of steps – as large as sweeping transitions to renewal energy to composting at home – might get us out of this mess. Improving and expanding mass transit has to be given crisis-level priority to slash the number of people traveling in cars, including taxis. In that light, here are some of the initiatives that Transport Workers Union Local 100 either supports or is working directly to make a reality:

We Celebrate Italian Heritage at the Hall

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24 -- TWU Local 100 celebrated Italian Night 2017 in style, saluting our first Italian-American President, Tony Utano. Tony first thanked his parents, then his Union family, for their support in his long career as union official culminating in his appointment as TWU Local 100 President. Introduced by John Chiarello, now Vice President of MOW, Tony vowed to fight as hard for every Department and Division in the Union as he has for MOW. He drew special attention to the strike authorization vote that has just been held at First Mile Square, a school bus property in Yonkers that's facing managers who refuse to honor their request for wages on par with other school bus companies in Westchester. He also called on all members to donate to the Union's new fundraising site for hurricane relief. International President John Samuelsen proudly commended Tony Utano on his appointment while also taking the time to address the TWU of America's latest fight against outsourcing of union jobs at American Airlines. Entertaining the crowd before a festive dinner was Major League ballplayer Lee Mazzilli, who also shared his pride in his Italian Heritage. Enjoy the photos!

Blood Drive Event on Nov 7 at Coney Island Overhaul

The Union, as part of the joint labor/management wellness initiative, is supporting a blood drive at Coney Island Overhaul, is on November 7th. Read about it here. Please give blood!

President Utano addresses media to explain the value of all-door bus boarding

TWU, Advocates Join to Back All-Door Bus Boarding

OCTOBER 20 -- A press conference today outside of 2 Broadway to roll out the Union's recommendations for all-door boarding on NYCT buses was covered heavily by the news media, including the Daily News, AM New York, Channels 4, 5, and NY 1, as well as CBS Radio and WFUV.

As AM NY reported: "MTA bus operators have joined transit advocates in calling for the authority to institute all-door boarding on city buses to speed up service and boost safety By allowing commuters to board buses at both the front and back doors, the time operators spend at the curb would be reduced, improving notoriously unreliable service, advocates said. The union representing operators — Transport Workers Local 100 — agrees and believes the policy will also improve safety by further removing operators from mediating fare evasion.

“First of all, it’s going to move buses more efficiently, and our bus operators are not going to have to worry about arguing with passengers, getting spit on, getting assaulted, getting coffee thrown on them; those days got to be over with,” said newly elected TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano on Thursday. “Our people got to come to work and be able to drive these buses in a safe manner.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Local 100 Launches Hurricane Relief Fund, Through Union Website

Local 100 members and families wishing to help the victims of this year's hurricanes, but weren't sure which fund to support, can donate to the TWU Local 100 Disaster Relief Fund through the TWU Local 100 website.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said: "It's important for our members to know that any money they donate will go directly to helping those impacted by these horrific storms. Every penny will find its way to those who need it most." Utano continued: "Our hearts go out to the victims of these devastating storms. Local 100 has a strong history of taking action when disaster strikes and that's what we are doing here."

A Local 100 advance team has been on the ground in San Juan since Oct. 14, 2017 working with Local officials and other unions to help the in the relief effort. A bigger contingent of TWU Local 100 volunteers will be dispatched in the near future to lend a hand as well. Click here to make a secure donation to the Relief Effort.

TWU Celebrates Russian Heritage

OCTOBER 15 -- 800 TWU Local 100 members gathered to celebrate Russian Heritage, including great food and entertainment, at Tatiana's on Brighton Beach. Enjoy the photos!

Defend Your Pension! Union Begins Major Campaign Against Con Con

Defend your pension! Defend your livelihood! Defend your union! TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano on Monday outlined a major get-out-the-vote campaign to stop New York State from holding a risk-filled Constitutional Convention. A New York State Constitutional Convention would enable anti-union forces to advance their anti-union agenda in New York, which includes slashing pensions, eliminating workers comp and taking away the right of organized labor to negotiate contracts on behalf of members. The question – whether or not New York should convene a Constitutional Convention – will be on the ballot in November on Election Day.

The answer is “hell no,” Utano said.

Local 100’s Vote No campaign will include officers shop-gating and educating our members in the field about the dangers that Constitutional Convention poses to working men and women, Utano said at a staff meeting at the Union Hall. “We have to make sure this question goes down,” Utano said. “Our pensions, our compensation and much more is at stake.” In addition to shop gating, Local 100’s Vote No campaign will include an anti-Convention message on a Times Square electronic billboard, newspaper advertisements, a direct mailing to members’ homes and direct appeals to new transit workers during their orientations.

Local 100 also will be encouraging members to become ‘Vote No’ activists who actively spread the union’s message to their relatives, friends, neighbors, as well as to the members of any civil or religious groups with which they are involved. Under state law, New York voters must be asked every 20 years if a Constitutional Convention should be convened. Delegates at such a gathering would be empowered to draft, introduce and vote on proposed amendments to the state Constitution. If an amendment is approved by a subsequent referendum, it would become law. Voters overwhelmingly said NO to a Constitutional Convention in 1977 and again in 1997.