NY TRANSPORT WORKERS NEWS: Apr 6, 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

The Low Downs

   I just got a message from Steve Downs, T/O division chair. He basically is informing us of the latest procedures that the TA wants to implement about how we can use the OTO time we earn. In other words Downs is letting the TA act unilaterally to implement changes in the conditions of employment. The TA bosses are ignoring the arbitration award, the court and the law and all Downs can do is pass along the message about what the bosses want to do!

   I guess this is the role that the TA sees for union reps, making sure the members are told what the TA bosses want them to do!
Could it be that Downs is really so incompetent that he doesn’t understand the dangerous precedents being set, or is he just a sellout and an agent of the bosses?

   It’s anybodies guess why Downs’s does (or doesn’t do) what he does, but one thing is for sure, Steve Downs may be a lousy division chair but he sure is a good messenger boy!

   -An Angry Train Operator-

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No Democratic Choice for Car Maintenance?

Regarding the Chief/Leader article entitled “After Democracy Speaks In TWU, A Dissenter Rebuts”, dated August 27, 2010, we the undersigned officers of Car Maintenance wish to clear the air.
Local 100 President John Samuelsen declares that it was, “The worst kind of politics someone in a Union could play”. Excuse us, but the ballot had two choices, yes or no.

Samuelsen has decided on his own that the collective mind of the Car Maintenance Division (referred to as Car Equipment) was somehow influenced by some unscrupulous element playing politics within the division. Nothing could be further from the truth. The members were given whatever information was available, at the time, and made a conscious decision. We, the officers of CMD, support our members decision, whether it be yes or no. Just because Mr. Samuelsen disagrees with our consensus gives him no right to criticize our membership for how they cast their vote.

Secondly, we abhor President Samuelsen’s use of the press to, in his own way, politicize the events that transpired with the assessment vote. We reject the constant airing of the Union’s issues in the press and insist that if Mr. Samuelsen has a disagreement with the Car Maintenance Division, he call a meeting and speak to us directly.

Democracy is not easy. Democratic organizations thrive on debate and disagreement. A responsible opposition caucus must be encouraged. In the long run it makes us stronger and more accountable. But more importantly, a Union operates better on bottom up leadership rather than the coercion of it’s membership by it’s representatives. We are satisfied that our members feel confident in their decision. Therefore, the officers of the 4,000 member Car Maintenance Division TWU Local 100 will continue to stand by the decision of it’s membership.

In Solidarity’

The undersigned officers of CMD.

Nelson Rivera V.P.
Joe Campbell Division Chair
Shirley Martin E-board, Vice Chair Over Haul Shops
Greg Dunichev E-board, Rec Sec’y Coney Island O/H
Jolly Eapen E-board, Chair Jerome Mtc.
Neil Philips E-board, Vice Chair 207 O/H
Matt Ahern Vice Chair Car Inspectors, Chair 240th Street
Fernando Robinson Vice Chair RCI’s
Max Rosario Vice Chair CTA’s
Marcie Forbes Division Vice Chair TPPA‘s, Section Chair TPPA’s
J. Leonard Division Rec. Sec’y, Chair 207 O/H
Angel Serrano 240th Street Vice Chair
Anthony Martone Rec. Sec’y 240th Street
Mathew Jacob Chair Concourse Mtc.
Sam Ponnolil Chair E180 Street Mtc.
Leon Cossou Vice Chair E180 Street MTC
Pisley Salmon Chair 239 Street Mtc.
Michael Hom Chair Pelham Mtc.
Nathaniel Daniels Chair Pelham Diesel
Walter Butscher Chair Jamaica Mtc.
Terrance Williams Vice Chair Jamaica Mtc.
Rocky Williams Vice Chair Jamaica Mtc.
Anthony Tomascewski Rec. Sec’y Jamaica Mtc.
John Rowe Chair Corona Mtc.
Jerry Archer Chair East New York Mtc.
Romain McLean Vice Chair East New York Mtc.
Joan Bygrave Rec. Sec’y East New York Mtc.
Ghana Stewart Chair Pitkin Mtc.
Errol Bartley Vice Chair Pitkin Mtc.
Whitney Britton Chair Livonia Mtc.
A. Bailey Vice Chair Livonia Mtc.
Douglas Rec. Sec’y Livonia Mtc.
Thomas Carrano Chair Coney Island Over Haul Shop
Winfield Bishop Rec. Sec’y Coney Island Over haul Shop
Eugene Bleynis Chair Coney Island Mtc.
Ruslan Shults Rec. Sec’y Coney Island Mtc.
Milton Farley Shop Steward Car Cleaners
Cyril Francis Retired Chair Pitkin Mtc.
David Leviev Retired Chair Island Mtc.

INCOMPETENT LEADER

JANUARY: TAKE OFFICE.
v CANCEL MASS MEMBERSHIP MEETING NEVER EXPRESSESED A PLAN.

FEBRUARY: NEVER MEET WITH WALDER THE DECISION MAKER.
v ONLY MEET WITH PENDERGRASS THE REPORTER. MTA GAVE RAISES, JOHN NEVER TAKE VICE PRESIDENTS AND LAWYERS TO DISCUSS IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTRACT.

MARCH: PENDERGRASS TOLD SAMUELSSON OF LAYOFF OF STATION AGENTS IN MAY.
v NEVER NEGOTIATE TO PUT THEM ELSEWHERE, ONLY SEEN IN THE MEDIA.

APRIL: PENDERGRASS GAVE SAMUELSSON 60 DAYS LAYOFF NOTICES.
v VICE PRESIDENTS AND MEMBERS NEVER KNOW UNTIL TWO WEEKS BEFORE LAY OFF DATE IN JUNE. (NO FIGHT BACK).

MAY: ANNOUNCED OF MASS MEMBERSHIP MEETING.
v CANCEL MASS MEMBERSHIP MEETING, NO PLAN, AND NO FIGHT FOR LAYOFFS, AND NEVER SEEN PRESIDENT IN THE FIELD.

JUNE: MEMBERS GOT LAIDOFF.
v NOT ONCE MEET WITH MANAGEMENT WITH HIS VICE PRESIDENTS, NO STAFF MEETING TO STRATEGIZE, NEVER ASK THE MEMBERS WHAT THEY WANT TO DO TO STOP OR PREVENT THE LAYOFFS. SAMUELSEN ASK PENDERGRASS TO PUT MEMBERS ELSEWHERE, HE SAID “TOO LATE TO HAVE THIS DISCUSSION, YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED IN MARCH”.

JULY: VOTE FOR $5
v FIRST TIME IN THE FIELD SAMUELSEN ASKED MEMBERS FOR $5 AS A FIGHT FOR LAYOFF MEMBERS, IS THIS THE PLAN AS TWU PRESIDENT?
SAMUELSEN MUST GO: NO VISION

With the current economic crisis,there is no shame for a union to suffer layoffs of it's members. I believe shame happens when a union hasn't done everything in it's power to prevent them. I believe this is the situation of TWU Local 100 with over seven hundred members currently laid off.

I believe it is good that the Samuelsen Administration has kept transit workers plight in the public eye through the media and the forging of coalitions against service cuts and layoffs and the making of Transit Funding a national concern, but there is an actor being left on the sidelines ,an actor who could make our struggle stronger by leaps and bounds if put on stage front and center,the members of Local 100.

Unfortunately, Local 100's Administration has not tapped this resource.The Local would be in a much stronger position if the administration would mobilize and organize the members and for the battles ahead.

A Mass Membership was cancelled.

If the current crisis of the service cuts and layoffs and provisions of our contract being contested by the MTA doesn't warrant having a Mass Membership Meeting what does?

The two rallies the Local has called,most of the membership never received notification of them and many others found out the day or night before.

The daily weekday afternoon picketing of Walder's residence hasn't been popularized among the members.

No information about anything goes out in the field.

The political life of Divisions not directly affected by the layoffs is like the layoffs are happening on the Moon or Mars.

Across the local,there's no dialogue with the members, no shopgating, no talk of possibly organizing a campaign of refusing to work the huge amount of overtime caused by the layoffs of Station Agents and now happening also in Busses, no work to rule campaigns. Everything done is press conferences and talking to the media and members find out the Local's point of view the same way as the general public does and they have no say on what is being said. T.B.O.U.[TAKE BACK OUR UNION]of which John Samuelsen was their Preidential candidate last year put out loads of stickers saying T.B.O.U.-NO LAYOFFS and T.B.O.U.-NO GIVEBACKS.

Apparently they went into their pockets to fund this, now they control TWU Local 100,where are the stickers saying the same things but said by TWU Local 100? What makes all this strange is this newspaper (Chief) and The Daily News reported that T.B.O.U. is the militant faction in TWU Local 100. Where is this militancy and dialogue with the membership?

It is sorely needed..

Sincerely,

John McCarthy

Vice Chair, Track Division

TWU Local 100

THE PARTY OF NO!!!

Nationally, the extreme right Republicans have become known as the ‘Party of No’. This gang has no plan or strategy of their own except to simply obstruct everything that President Obama does.

We have to deal with a national ‘Party of No’ but we also have to deal with ‘Party of No’ in our own union. This home grown ‘Party of No’ is running our union into the ground. The home grown ‘Party of No’, the people who used to call themselves tbou, have said ‘No’ to every single union function, activity, achievement or initiative for the last 5 years. They have boycotted or attacked everything! For 5 years they took every opportunity to attack the union instead of the bosses!

In 2005 they tried to undermine the build up to the contract fight, then they tried to undermine the strike, and, along with the TA bosses and the rest of the right wing establishment, they attacked our settlement and belittled the history of the strike. After they said ‘No’ to our fight to ‘Save our Union’, our dues campaign.

But that’s not all this home grown ‘Party of No’ has rejected!

They said ‘No’ to our Safety Stand Down and all of our union’s efforts to improve safety on the tracks and throughout the system.

They said ‘No’ to our Widows and Orphans fund – the charity set up to support the survivors of our fallen brothers and sisters. Not one leading member of the "Party of No" contributed a single dime to it.

They said ‘No’ to all of our lobby days

They said ‘No’ to all of our family days

They said ‘No’ to our last contract, (the contract that they now are getting ready to give away.)

In fact they have said ‘No’ to everything our union has done for at least the last 5 years!

Their operating principle has always been that anything that the union was doing had to be destroyed. They put a negative spin on every single union achievement. That’s why they can’t do anything positive now. In the face of attacks on all fronts, in the face of massive layoffs, service cuts and who only knows what else they have no plan, they have nothing positive to offer, nobody takes them seriously, least of all the MTA bosses. This is where the ‘Party of No’ has brought us, lets just hope it’s not to late for someone to save us from the ‘Party of No’ and save the achievements of the last 10 years.

The ‘Party of No’ took us back all right – right back to the bad old days!

It’s time for A New Beginning

Management has been on a rampage.

The JS administration has been a dismal failure. In record time too. While 'Rome burns', Samuelsen has been a wind bag and a shameless self promoter. His administration has been an administration of lies, double standards and failed promises. The Local is in chaos.

Our members are deeply disappointed, stunned and gravely concerned about the disastrous course our Local is on.

Union representation has all but collapsed. Contract enforcement is nonexistent. Safety has gone down the tubes. The night shift has been abandoned. Programs that we fought long and hard for are being given up.

The Samuelsen administration has NO response to layoffs. Proposing that we pay for early retirement or that we pay for members laid off means surrender before the MTA, pits member against member and encourages more MTA attacks.

Samuelsen cannot even deliver on a contract that he was handed gift wrapped and court approved. Mr. "direct action" Samuelsen is like the emperor that has no clothes. We are in deep trouble.

The situation cannot be salvaged; things are only growing from bad to worse. The Samuelsen crew has neither discipline nor team work nor vision.

We need a New Beginning. Let’s get it right this time. No room for talkers and empty loudmouths. They have put our Union on a disaster course.

NEWS for LOCAL 100

An Honest Opinion

To whoever maintains this blog, I just want to let you know that I appreciate your efforts to provide a forum were members can express their opinions and keep each other informed.
I’m a transit worker who did not support Tate and his team in the last election but now I’m having second thoughts.
The leadership of our union, the leadership that I voted for, appears to be collapsing under the assault from the MTA and the anti labor bosses. I’m afraid that I voted based on who I thought was friendlier, who I would rather hang out with, instead of who would be best at leading our union. I just wish I had a chance to vote again, based on what I see happening now.
The bottom line is that if I wanted to pick someone to bring to sit down around the dinner table with my family it would probably be someone like John Samuelsen, but if I wanted someone to sit down at the table with the boss I’d want it to be someone like Roger Toussaint.
That’s just how it is, that’s just how I see it now!