‘Double Standard John’ and his Posters

   At the January 25th Local 100 Executive Board meeting Samuelsen brought piles of posters of his slate, posters paid for with Union funds, which he wanted Officers to take out to the field and post everywhere.

  Many officers objected and refused, demanding that he withdraw the posters.

  The photo on the posters is exclusively of Samuelsen’s slate in the Convention elections, leaving out the majority of other officers simply because they did not run with him!

  Is that an appropriate use of Union money? Is that democratic?

It’s our union, isn’t it?

Although the Union Hall was full for the MLK celebration it was disheartening to hear that most of the participants were from groups other than Local 100.

Most guests were from other organizations (special invitees), so, they had seat fillers to help pack the place.
True it is not uncommon to have guest at these events; however, the event is for Local 100 members.

Checking dues status at the door is the best way to reward the members that have financially supported local 100.It not only allows members that fell behind the opportunity to become in good standing again, this system allows members the ability to walk into an event knowing it is only possible thanks to the financial support that they contributed to the Union.

There is no way that Samuelson wants to bring a union together when he simply ignores the members that have stood true to local 100 during it’s toughest yet finest hours.

First and foremost we should bring our union together by having all members in good standing.

Does Paying Dues matter?

I agree that it is a good thing for members, regardless of how they felt about the elections to be active in the Union, but what about allowing individuals in ‘bad standing’ into the hall just to be able to show a crowd at the event? Many were embraced with no demand or challenge about their dues owed.

Every day others are walking the hallways and freely sitting in our offices and even being given staff jobs?

It’s dangerous and offensive to say there is no difference between those of us who diligently paid our dues and those that have not.

After all, we are supposed to be in the Union business.

TWU shows MLK Pride

Good turn out from a cross section of members. That’s a good thing.
Whether they support the new administration or not (as several made a point of noting) it is clear that transit workers have no intention of being pushed out of their Union.

That’s far better than what Samuelsen’s crew did over the years, leading boycott after boycott of Union mobilizations, hoping that they failed.

Beyond that, this mobilization and the program followed the playbook laid down over the years by the prior administration.

It’s a lie.

In just the last couple hours Samuelsen had a notice posted on the Local 100 website as well as sent out by e mail several times claiming that “The MTA Retreats On Challenge to Arbitration Award” and further that the MTA “will continue a limited appeal to challenge the arbitration’s third year wage award of 3% and the rollback of health care contributions to a straight 1.5% on 40 hours pay.”

Turns out that’s not true. It’s a lie.

A review of the court papers submitted by the MTA reveals that the MTA appealed the entire Award, not part, which it could not do anyway. This way if they win their Appeal they could take back the raises for 2009 and 2010!!
That’s what Samuelsen got for his promise of ‘Labor Peace’.

Either Samuelsen was lying or he got ‘played’, is he incompetent or lazy.
We know he does not bother to read critical documents that bear on our lives.

It’s Your Union!!

Whatever you do, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t let anyone run you out of Your own Union.

Even if you’re are disappointed by the results of the recent elections or disgusted by the Samuelsen crew and what they did with the help of the MTA, Bloomberg and the media, Local 100 is YOUR UNION, don’t let anyone run you out!

Despite all that has been said Local 100 has become a meeting place for thousands of members at the mobilizations, the over fifteen Annual events, the Child Care, the Training and Upgrade, Membership Services etc.

We never had any of this before. Don’t let anyone take that away from us or run us out!

2009 -2011 TA/OA MTA Bus Contracts Update

With the deadline upon us, the MTA has dropped its foolish appeal of the Court decision regarding the Arbitration Award issued on our contract,(according to news reports) with a twist … We get 4% for 2009 and 4% for 2010 but the MTA is reserving an appeal of the 3% in third year of the Award!!
This means:
1) They are going to waste more money on lawyers
2) They want to pick and choose from the Award, rather than accept it as the package it was intended, so that they get to move forward with items in the Award which they think they can exploit while holding off on others
3) The MTA is staking out its bargaining position with the next round of negotiations in mind.

If this is true it would be a continuation of the Walder Administration’s legacy of bad faith. It remains to be seen whether they get away with this under the law.
But, it also suggests the possibility that Walder has been in some type of talks with John Samuelsen to renegotiate things where John’s political agenda is given room and he allows the MTA to get out from under a clear defeat.

The two had rushed talks from the day after the Union elections results were announced, the full contents of which John has not bothered to share with even top Officers

Confiscating Keys! Hallway firings!! Denying Pay!!

‘Democracy’ has hit the ground running at Local 100. First it was searching cars, now its confiscating keys!!


In its first two weeks, Samuelsen administration officials have approached some staff demanding that they surrender keys they use to get into their offices!! And for no good reason, except to humiliate them.


It's true that some people have been fired in the hallways and pay is being withheld for several others despite the fact that they have worked the hours.


These acts of humiliation have usually come with no explanation or with the announcement of some title, even if unelected, as has frequently been the case.

Arbitration Award Deadline Is here!!

Today is the deadline for the MTA to appeal the decision by the Courts, issued in December, upholding the Award issued by the Arbitration Panel since August. The MTA had 30 days which was extended by the weekend and the MLK holiday. All indication is that they will give up on appealing the decision. From the beginning the MTA knew that it had little or no legs to stand on legally. Their appeal was designed to prolong the pain and destabilize Local 100. With John Samuelsen elected, the MTA (and the media) accomplished one of their objectives. We will be getting a settlement of 11.3% plus a cap on Health care contributions at 40hrs which increases the raise significantly. Given the economy, that is a big victory, anyone that tells you otherwise is either confused or dishonest or both.

Hired and fired!!

Darlene Lawson, Hired and fired!! Placed on staff by John Samuelsen, Darlene Lawson, the former Recording Secretary at TWU Local 100 lasted one whole week! Lawson’s hiring was part of Samuelsen’s project to “unify” and “heal” Local 100, or so he said. Seems that Samuelsen had been courting her for quite some time. Took him one week in office to decide that he had no more use for this courtship and to get rid of her. She had already put in her resignation to the TA, so she is out on the street.

Check out NY City Hall News

Apart from being on Samuelsen’s payroll these days, Arthur Schwartz is apparently also working on Claude Forte’s (DC37’s Local 375) campaign against Lillian Roberts. This elections is coming up in the next month or two. Arthur and Claude are quoted criticizing Lillian Roberts for opposing Bloomberg in the recent mayoral elections on the grounds that it would hurt DC37 in their next round of upcoming negotiations set for this summer. It should be noted that UFT, which stayed out of the mayoral elections, has not been faring any better with Bloomberg than DC37. Interestingly enough it was Lillian’s nephew, Ivan, who was Samuelsen’s lawyer in the 2006 Local 100 elections and it seems that her nephew referred Samuelsen to Larry Cary, a former partner of Ivan’s. Cary is now Samuelsen’s lawyer and new Local 100 General Counsel. Arthur is now on Samuelsen’s payroll.

Seat for Sale!! Seat for Sale!!

Word is that John Samuelsen has been pressuring CTA Anne Hallahan hard to withdraw from running for Chair of the Stations Cleaners Section. According to Samuelsen, Anne owes him since he let her keep her job in the Union. In contention for the position is Marvin Holland, John samuelsen’s friend. Marvin, you might recall, pulled out of the last elections when it was discovered that he had failed to maintain ‘continuous good standing’ for one year, which is required to run for office in Local 100. Marvin did not know how to do that, but wants to represent those that did. Now it looks like there will be ONE vote on who will be Chair of Stations Cleaner and that vote will be cast by “Mr Democracy” himself, John Samuelsen. You can’t make this up. Stay tuned.