Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Alert-City Wide March and Rally to‏ Support Stella D'oro strike

Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Supports the Stella D’oro Strikers City-Wide March & Rally Saturday May 30, 2009 and we are calling on all trade unionists and social activists to come out and show solidarity. For more information please check out this article on the strike at Stella D'oro by Stewart Acuff and published in Huffington Post.

Our next strike support rally will be this Saturday at 12PM. We will assemble outside the Target shopping center at 225th Street just east of Broadway and march from there to the factory at 237th Street. With the strikers' unemployment benefits set to expire in August, we need to push hard to win this fight now. I hope to see many of you at the rally on Saturday!

What: Stella Doro Strike Support Rally

When: Saturday, May 30th @ 12PM

Where: Assemble at Target -- 225th Street just east of Broadway (#1 train to 225th)

Why: Because 9 months forced out on strike is 9 months too long! For more information visit www.stelladorostrike2008.com

It's time to win this fight once and for all! For all the latest labor news in NYC go to http://www.tbou.org/

Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Alert-This is it! Let's mobilize for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights‏

WE CAN'T STOP NOW! MARCH TO THE END, WE CAN DO IT.With less than 5 weeks left in the legislative session, every moment counts.
Please save the following dates in your calendars for respect and recognition.

Which events can you attend? How many friends can you bring?

Thursday June 4 - HARLEM COMMUNITY DINNER HONORING THE LEGACY OF DOMESTIC WORKERS
Join domestic workers, faith leaders, legislators and the Harlem community for a dinner to recognize and honor the many women in our families who have done domestic work and supported New York communities through the generations. Bring photos, stories and memories of the domestic workers in your family tree.
7:00pm - 9:00 pm
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
St. Philips Episcopal Church, Harlem, NY
204 W. 134th St. @ 7th Ave. - Take the B Train to 135th Street.
RSVP - priscilla@domesticworkersunited.org or (212) 481-5747

Monday, June 8 - DOMESTIC WORKERS TELL THEIR STORIES IN ALBANY
Join domestic workers for a day of culture, testimony, truth-telling, legislative visits, a rally and march at a critical time in the legislative session
Buses Leaving 6:30 am from Union Square Barnes and Nobles - North side of the park
Returning by 8:00 pm the same day
Take the N/R/4/5/6/L to Union Square
RSVP - aijendwu@gmail.com, or (212) 481-5747

Friday-Saturday, June 12 - 13 - 24-HOUR VIGIL FOR THE DOMESTIC WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS
Many domestic workers, particularly live-in workers, work around the clock without rest. We're asking all New Yorkers who support domestic workers rights, to stand together for 24 hours straight in a symbolic show of support for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights - so that domestic workers can receive overtime, job security, basic respect and recognition.
8:00 am - 8:00 am
City Hall - across from 250 Broadway
Take the N/R to City Hall, or the 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge
RSVP, and sign up for a shift, aijendwu@gmail.com, or (212) 481-5747

Sunday, June 14 - NY CHILDREN AND FAMILIES MARCH
Bring your entire family, community and congregations to this Sunday afternoon, after-church, "march for peace and justice in the home" to show how many people of faith support and are connected to domestic workers. With children leading the march, many generations will march together with one common message and theme. Let's send a strong message to the NY State Legislature and the Governor that we won't stop until they honor, respect and protect the work that makes all other work possible in New York.
City Hall - across from 250 Broadway
Take the N/R to City Hall, or the 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge
RSVP, particularly with groups to joycedwu@gmail.com or (212) 481-5747

Take Back Our Union President Candidate Challenges Toussanit Candidate Curtis Tate to Debate

Take Back Our Union (TBOU) President Candidate John Samuelsen challenges Curtis Tate ,Roger Toussanit's hand pick President candidate to a debate. The members have been asking Who is John Samuelsen ? Who is Curtis Tate ? What better way for members of TWU Local 100 to find out about the only two men running for president of TWU Local 100 ? Well the challenge has been issued by Take Back Our Union (TBOU) candidate John Samuelsen and now the only question is will Curtis Tate accept the challenge. The open letter from Mr. Samuelsen is below :


Open letter to Curtis Tate to Debate
May 19, 2009

Curtis Tate
Acting President
TWU Local 100
80 West End Avenue
New York, New York
Dear Brother Tate:
I have accepted the offer of NY 1 to participate in a debate between us .The debate is take place at NY1's studios in Manhattan. Two dates have been set aside, May 28 or 29 . I am told it will be moderated by NY 1’s Transit Reporter Bobby Cuza and Daily News Transit Reporter Pete Donohue.

I think this would be an exciting opportunity for the two of us to debate our respective vision for TWU Local 100 and the membership. Because it will be aired on TV, I understand many transit workers will get the benefit of hearing us before they vote in the election. Just the two of us ,Curits, face to face, discussing the many issues confronting TWU Local 100.
I urge you to accept.

Fraternally yours,
John Samuelsen
For more information on the debate challenge and the upcoming TWU Local 100 election go to our election website at www.tbou2009.org and vote the Take Back Our Union(TBOU) Slate

TBOU-Update on the Attempted Murder and Robbery of Transit Employees

In response to the attempted murder and robbery of two transit workers at the Winthrop street station on the 2 line at around 2:30AM on Saturday May 9,2009.On Tuesday May 12 Pete Foley sent the below E-mail to Howard Roberts the President of the Transit Authority ,Pete Foley is the Vice Chair of Line Equipment Signals and the 1# senior Revenue Equipment Maintainer (REM).

Dear President Roberts, I'm writing you concerning the shooting of Revenue Equipment Maintainer (REM) and the attempt on his Collecting Agent on May 9th at the Winthrop St. subway station. The REM should be given a job in the Central Electronic Shop in compensation for this terrible experience. He has previous experience doing this type of work and this will take him out of the field. Many of the workers at CES were previously REMs.

Now the REMs that are working on the road would like their safety concerns taken seriously by management. Our warnings about an incident like this have been totally ignored indeed laughed at by upper management. There is no reason for so many of our men and women to be working the odd shifts with the weekday RDOs that we currently work. We fix turnstiles, gates and related equipment. Currently we have more Metrocard Vending Machine repair jobs which are paired up with a collecting agent on the 10pm to 6am shift than on the 6am-2pm, the 8am-4pm and the noon-8pm shift combined, at the main 14th St. shop. A lot of those jobs have T/W or W/T RDOs. There is no business reason for so many on this shift. The machines break down during the day when people use them. They should be fixed then. No one in the riding public cares if an MVM is fixed at 2am when it went out of service at 2pm. They want that MVM available when most of the people are traveling especially with so many token booths closed. There is also no reason to do any preventative maintenance at these hours.

The teams have to travel by truck to get around and you have to pay them night differential. We have had 3 maintainers assaulted in the last 3 years. Two on the night shift. All concerns about safety and workers morale problems over the weird shifts and lousy RDOs are ignored. Our department runs to serve the Monday morning availability snapshot that is reported to the MTA board. We have the least amount of maintainers on Wed. and the most equipment out because of the usage of those machines. We think that a F/S, S/S and S/M RdOs would cover our equipment adequately and help our workers have some semblance of family life. There should only be a skeleton emergency crew working late at night. We have to stop work on machines midway and leave it for the next shift or sometimes 2 shifts later if it may go into overtime so It's pretty obvious we don't have many emergencies that can't wait a few hours. As it is a new maintainer or collecting agent could work for 8-10 years before they get a part of the weekend off.

With the new fare of $2.25 there will be twice the number of MVM trouble calls because of the coin chute problems. Currently the biggest problems are bill jams but now coin problems will double the calls and put more machines out of service when people need them. We would like a safety stand down in all shops and tours with REMs and Collecting Agents to go over together all procedures and operating instructions particularly in regards to MVMs. REMs and CAs have different responsibilities and some are conflicting. We also have long standing safety issues with carrying bill boxes on the train and who is responsible for what keys. We would like these discussed and resolved. A rep from the CAs should be at the monthly AFC Maintenance meeting to share their concerns and hear our safety concerns. These are the same concerns I wrote to you about 6 months ago and they are still not resolved. I hope this time after this terrible incident we could make our workers life safer and better for their family life as well as improve our equipment availability for the customer when they need it.Thank You, Pete Foley TWU Local 100 Line Equipment /Signals Division Vice-Chair.
To stay updated on all transit related news visit http://www.tbou.org/ daily.

Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Update-Upcoming Forums on Bus Rapid Transit(BRT)

Take Back Our Union Action Update :

Over the next several weeks, MTA New York City Transit and the New York City Department of Transportation will be holding forums on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The first BRT route in the Bronx - with pre-boarding fare payment and a better separated exclusive lane – has been very successful, with faster trips and high levels of customer satisfaction.

The agencies are now looking at ways to dramatically improve transit service through a comprehensive BRT network across New York City -- complete with links to subways, ferries and major destinations.

A total of seven workshops will be held throughout the five boroughs to gather New Yorkers' feedback on where new BRT routes should be established and how they should operate. The dates and locations of the workshops, as well as more information, can be found at: www.nyc.gov/brt to stay informed about all transit news go to www.takebackourunion.org daily .