סטרייק אנגעהויבן

Exclusive: Transit Union Split Over Strike
Upper level may seek to takeover and settle labor dispute


(CBS) NEW YORK The international arm of the Transport Workers Union is stunned and angry that its Local 100, representing New York subway and bus workers, turned down a contract offer from management and ordered its members to walk off their jobs, CBS2 News has learned.

Sources within other large public employee unions tell CBS2 reporter Marcia Kramer that the TWU's international leadership is considering taking over the local and seeking a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Those sources say the upper level of the TWU thinks the MTA's latest offer is fair and worthy of further consideration and negotiation. They stand against a militant faction within Local 100 that pressed hard for a strike.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/375722p-319283c.html

Workers right to defy MTA


Think of the impending transit strike as the price - the fare - our city pays every so often to travel toward an important destination for many New Yorkers: entry to the middle class. Many people know nothing about that journey, and frankly couldn't care less about the lives, hopes and working conditions of the 34,000-member army of token booth clerks, track workers, mechanics and bus drivers who ferry us all safely across the city millions of times every day.
The great and growing disconnect between white-collar and blue-collar workers in our town makes it hard for office workers to see, understand or respect what is at stake in this labor standoff. Few riders know, for instance, that transit workers have to ask for a day off 30 days in advance. Back in October, in an annual ritual, some MTA workers slept on cots in bus depots so they could be first on line the next morning to ask for permission to take Thanksgiving off.

Such accumulated humiliations fuel much of the fury leading up to Tuesday's threatened strike. Train operators complain about the fear of driving through tunnels filled with debris; female workers recently went public with deions of the rusted, filthy, freezing bathrooms provided for them.

None of that got mentioned at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's news conference at the Grand Hyatt on Friday when talks broke down. Peter Kalikow, the MTA chairman, flanked by Executive Director Katherine Lapp and labor negotiator Gary Dellaverson, declared the talks at an impasse and earnestly pleaded that there was no more money to put on the table.

Unfortunately, Kalikow and the MTA have long since thrown away their credibility. The agency lost $300 million to fraud and cost overruns at its own headquarters, leading Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to tell my colleague Michael Goodwin, "Of all the authorities, the MTA is the most mismanaged, least competent one out there, and everybody knows it." That's putting it mildly. This is the agency that Controller Alan Hevesi found kept two sets of books - one for the public, and the real numbers. The same place that claimed a deficit, then a small surplus, and then a billion-dollar surplus - which the MTA voted to spend down last week even as the strike deadline approached.

So when Dellaverson told reporters that "the bucket is full" and that no more money could be offered to workers, it was almost comical. A reporter asked how much money it would take to meet the union's supposedly unreasonable demands, Dellaverson waffled.

"I have a spreadsheet upstairs," he said. "I haven't run it."

Uh-huh.

Roger Toussaint and his transit workers have every reason to be furious with the MTA. When Toussaint speaks of the current labor negotiations as part of a "glorious struggle," he was talking about preserving a city where his members, men like Kenneth Hoyt, could succeed by landing a good union job.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, Hoyt has been a subway conductor for 34 years. The job enabled him to raise five children - three sons, who all joined the Army, and two daughters, who are close to graduating from New York Technical College and Kingsborough Community College.

Hoyt was doing platform patrol during the Friday afternoon rush on the uptown Lexington Ave. line at Grand Central Station, four stories beneath the press room where Kalikow and Dellaverson were crying broke.

Gliding back and forth between arriving local and express trains, Hoyt spent hours multitasking - giving directions to lost travelers, shepherding riders on and off the trains with a booming, friendly voice, giving the all-clear signal with a flashlight, and exchanging five-second pleasantries with conductors on most trains.

Several riders stopped to ask about the strike, and Hoyt - long before the news hit the airwaves - predicted the trains would stop running Tuesday. "The executive board of the union is not going to give in. I hope they don't."

Me neither.

http://www.twulocal100.org/shutdown_plans.html

TWU LOCAL 100 SYSTEM SHUT DOWN PLANS

Dec. 19 - TWU Local 100 Executive Board voted on Friday, Dec. 16 to go out on strike against the MTA on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 12:01 a.m. As always, Local 100 members will meet our responsibility for the safety of our riders, for the safety of all transit workers, and for the safe maintenance of the equipment we will use when we get a fair contract and return to work.

Local 100 members shall make sure that the subways are buses are shut down safely and efficiently at the beginning of the strike. Local 100 members shall then make sure that the system stays shut down for the duration of the strike.

Local 100 members must document the safe shutdown to prevent any possible management sabotage and any attempts to blame transit workers for management misconduct or carelessness.

Safe Shutdown Procedures

If the Local 100 Executive Board declares a strike, all Local 100 members who do not have specific assignments from the Union will stop work, Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 12:01 AM. Please see the Strike Assignments memo for more instructions.

MaBSTOA and TA Surface BUS OPERATORS AND MAINTAINENCE

All buses scheduled to leave the depot after 12:01 a.m. are to remain in the house.
All buses shall return to the depot after completing the nearest trip ג€'' whether this shall be immediately before or after 12:01 A.M.
Passengers on the last trip must be taken to their destinations.
No Passenger will be left stranded on a bus.
Buses will return to the depot, DARK, on the return trip.
All buses are to be secured at the depot against weather and vandalism.
NO BUS IS TO BE ABANDONED ON THE STREET AFTER THE STRIKE BEGINS.
SHIFTERS are to remain at work until all buses have been secured.
ALL RECEIPTS are to be turned in to the depot by the Operator before leaving the depot.
Keep careful records. Document everything.
SAFETY CREWS for fire watch and heat will remain on duty as designated by the Strike Committee.

LEADERSHIP
The Chairman of each depot plus one (1) Steward from Maintenance will be in charge of the depot.
One (1) Steward from Operators and one (1) Steward from Maintenance will be in charge of the picket lines on each watch.

STATIONS
Chain and lock each STATION TURNSTILE at 12:01 a.m. STAIRWAY GATES and HIGH GATES shall remain open to allow passengers to leave the system.
Prepare BOOTH BANK, KEYS, BLOCK TICKETS, and all BOOTH PROPERTY and have it ready to be bagged when Supervision arrives. Witness Supervision DROP THESE BAGS. GET A RECEIPT for all you turn-in.
REMAIN ON DUTY UNTIL PROPERLY RELIEVED BY A SUPERVISOR.
The T.A. will be warned not to send additional reserves of tokens.
COLLECTING AGENTS will Report to picket headquarters at their place of work on their regularly assigned tours of duty.
Lock up all tools and equipment, all toilets, and elevator cars.

CAR MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT (CED)
ROAD CAR INSPECTORS on the job at 12:01 a.m. shall remain at work until the last car under their jurisdiction is safely secured. They should ride the last train into the terminal.
ROAD CAR INSPECTORS at home terminals shall remain at work until all trains have been safely secured. Secure all trains in the open from weather and vandalism.
SAFETY CREWS for the maintenance of heat and plant shall be designated.
OVERHAUL AND MAINTENANCE SHOPS ג€'' ALL TITLES: Secure all tools, equipment and trains. Then all members report for picket duty outside of your location.

LEADERSHIP
The Chairperson at each location is in charge of the location.
Three Stewards and/or members shall be designated in charge on each tour. Picket lines shall be established at all entrances for personnel and trucks.

MAINTENANCE OF WAY (MOW)
ALL SIGNAL MAINTAINERS on the job at 12:01 a.m. will remain at work until the last train has passed their location. Signals should then be thrown on RED. A Signal Safety Crew will be designated.
One (1) member in each quarters will be designated to be in charge.
Members not otherwise assigned will report to the nearest strike headquarters.
Members will not perform emergency services.
POWER DEPARTMENT
A team of three (3) members will be in charge in each borough ג€'' one on each watch. They will be located at Central Locations.
EMERGENCY LIGHTING is to BE LEFT ON and power for drainage and ventilation in tunnels is to be maintained.
Unassigned personnel will report to nearest strike headquarters for assignment.

RAPID TRANSIT OPERATIONS (RTO)
All scheduled runs up to 12:01 a.m. will be operated. All runs scheduled to leave a home terminal or other terminal up to and including 12:01 a.m. shall COMPLETE THE TRIP and then return to the home terminal DARK where the trains shall be laid up.
All trains are to be secured properly in the yards and lay-up tracks before the crews go out on strike.
SWITCHMEN AND TOWER OPERATORS scheduled to report at 12:00 a.m. (midnight), will do so and continue to cover their assignments until the last train under their jurisdiction has been safely laid up.
In the event supervision attempts to re-route trains, crews will refuse to operate except on their regular schedule.
TOWER OPERATORS should set all signals on red before leaving.

LEADERSHIP
ONE TRAIN OPERATOR AND ONE CONDUCTOR shall be placed in full charge of each terminal; and
ONE TRAIN OPERATOR AND ONE CONDUCTOR shall be in charge on each tour. Their responsibilities include