Transit Workers for a Fighting Union
TWU Local 100 Members
Let’s Get Real: How Do We Get a Fighting Union?
We transit workers show up to work every day facing horrible work conditions. There are two Houses of Pain: The MAC and 2 Broadway. The threat of write-ups and management harassment make every day miserable. It’s impossible to pay the bills unless you work massive amounts of overtime. It’s always service over safety. You work until you drop and then run the gauntlet by trying to get workmen’s comp. The list goes on. The problem is not just that we work for transit’s brutal bosses, but also that the union leadership lets them get away with it.
Sham Election, Davis Axed, Yet Another Unelected President
Enough! TWU Local 100 Members Must Decide!
The entrenched sellout bureaucrats atop TWU Local 100 called their slate “Members First,” but thousands of us transit workers tagged them “Members Last” and for good reasons. Barely a month after the union election concluded, TWU officials announced that just-elected president Richard Davis had resigned for “health reasons.” That was soon followed by news that Davis resigned under pressure from top union officials for “credible allegations” of sexual harassment and physical threats against a Local 100 employee. Then as a few gory details emerged, transit workers found out that Davis will be getting 100 weeks of severance pay and medical benefits (reportedly worth over $400k) paid for by our union dues. And the final straw: For the third time in less than a decade, our 44,000-strong membership will not be allowed to elect their own union president. After the long appointments of Utano in 2017 and Davis in 2022, the “Members Last” dominated Executive Board plans to appoint another flunky as TWU Local 100’s top dog.
In response to this fiasco, we in the Transit Workers for a Fighting Union demand:
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Transit workers must decide who their new union president and leadership should be!
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The whole election was a sham. There must be a new election to re-run candidates for all top posts, including division vice presidents and E-Board members!
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We need a real Mass Meeting where members are allowed to discuss issues, set a date for new elections, elect a new Elections Committee, and vote motions on how to move forward!
A MESSAGE FROM E-BOARD CANDIDATES
RICHARD LATTANZI (RTO) AND TOM COWPERTHWAITE (TA SURFACE MAINTENANCE)
As candidates of the Transit Workers for a Fighting Union, we want to thank every union Brother and Sister who supported us during the recent TWU Local 100 elections. We campaigned hard in crew rooms and bus depots all over the city, got out thousands of our Five-Point Program flyer, and talked to coworkers about the urgent need to reorient and rebuild our union. Even though this time we did not win posts on the e-board, we laid a foundation of real workers support to build on.…
Vote for our candidates for Executive Board!
Tom Cowperthwaite
Richard Lattanzi
We are running for Executive Board in two divisions—RTO and TA Surface Maintenance—on a program to fight back against the MTA’s drive to make us pay for their latest budget crisis. This country’s rulers have billions to line their own pockets and for imperialist slaughters abroad, but plead poverty as New York City’s transit system rots. Working people need to fight back! Here’s our program to transform our union into one that fights against the bosses and for all transit workers:
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“We Move New York!” We should be able to afford to live here! We need raises high enough to win back what we’ve lost to inflation and giveback contracts, plus full cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) against inflation. We shouldn’t have to work tons of overtime and endure long commutes just to make rent!
Watch “We Move New York!” We should be able to afford to live here!
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Abolish Tier 6! Everyone to top tier now! The tier system screws newer workers, pits us against each other, and destroys union bargaining power. Equal pay for equal work! Upgrade Tier 6 to Tier 4 now! Fight for a 20/50/non-contributory pension for all!
Watch Abolish Tier 6! Everyone to top tier now!
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We shouldn’t have to kill ourselves to do our jobs! Injuries and death threaten workers and riders every day. The Safety Dispute Resolution Form still keeps safety in the hands of the bosses, who create dangerous conditions to begin with. Workers should control safety! Any worker should be able to shut down unsafe work and the entire union must back them up!
Watch We shouldn’t have to kill ourselves to do our jobs!
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For black liberation! Down with witch hunts against migrants and refugees! The MTA is run like a plantation, with the bosses segregating us by job title, hammering us with discipline and keeping us weak. Racial oppression is used to drive down wages and work conditions for all workers, including white union members. Join us in the fight to end plantation justice!
Watch For black liberation! Down with witch hunts against migrants and refugees!
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Oppose the Democrats and Republicans! Workers should run the country! Whether it’s Trump or Harris at the helm, working people will lose. The union tops keep telling us to vote for Democrats, but you can’t fight the bosses if you’re in bed with their political parties. In the recent national elections, we urged transit workers to vote for the working-class alternative: Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia from the Party for Socialism and Liberation for president and vice president. We need to build a party that aims to put working people in charge from top to bottom!
Watch Oppose the Democrats and Republicans! Workers should run the country!