Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Alert :DOMESTIC WORKERS APPRECIATION DAY this Thursday July 2nd , Please make some time and show support for our sisters struggle and help get the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights passed !
Recognizing the Work that Makes All Other Work Possible With
Gloria Steinem and Barbara Ehrenreich
Thursday, July 2, 2009 11:00 am - 11:00 pm -
Governor Paterson's Office Third Avenue and 41st Street
Twelve Hour Appreciation Vigil Press Conference Launch
- 11:00 AM -12:00 NOON- With programs from :
1:00 PM - 3:00PM ** 5:00 PM-8:00 PM * * & 10:00 PM -11:00 PM
Certificates to be presented throughout the vigil
From 11:00 am to 11:00 pm on Thursday, July 2, domestic workers will converge at the Governor's Office to receive Certificates of Appreciation, for their many contributions to the economy, families and homes in New York State. Joined by prominent leaders and writers Barbara Ehrenreich and Gloria Steinem, as well as labor leaders such as Stuart Appelbaum, domestic workers will call upon the Governor and the legislature to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, providing a set of basic rights and benefits, bringing respect to the work, and breaking the isolation of this vulnerable workforce. Solidarity vigils will occur across the country, as supporters of the National Domestic Workers Alliance come together to appreciate and celebrate domestic work.
For more information please call :
Domestic Workers United
1201 Broadway Suite 907-908 New York, NY 10001
http://www.domesticworkersunited.org/
phone (212) 481-5747
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Election Update- TBOU Stuns Toussanit and company in Delegates Election
Take Back Our Union Stuns Toussaint in Delegates Election
Transit union leader Roger Toussaint & Co. suffer a series of defeats
BY Pete Donohue DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, June 25th 2009,
Transit union leader Roger Toussaint, who led the 2005 Christmastime strike that crippled the bus and subway system has lost his ironclad grip on Transport Workers Union Local 100. A faction of Toussaint loyalists suffered a series of stunning defeats Monday when ballots for delegates to the international's convention were counted.
The loyalist "United Invincible" faction won dozens of uncontested races - but lost about 40 of 67 of the
Head-to-head contests against the anti-Toussaint "Take Back Our Union" camp, sources said Tuesday.
That doesn't bode well for Toussaint and his handpicked successor, acting Local 100 President Curtis Tate, who heads the United Invincible slate. Toussaint stepped down after taking a promotion to the international organization.Ballots for president, secretary-treasurer and other Local 100 leadership posts were mailed out this month ,but haven't been counted.
"If I was a betting man, I'd say John (Samuelsen) is going to win," J.P. Patafio, a high-ranking union official, said of the Take Back Our Union presidential candidate.Samuelsen's campaign has claimed Toussaint, Tate and the current union administration have been too
accommodating to Metropolitan Transportation Authority management since the strike. Toussaint and Tate have said they've won safety and other improvements through cooperation after the walkout. A Tate spokesman declined to comment.The union hasn't officially released the results of the delegates' races.Ballots for delegate seats and local leadership posts were mailed out this month to transit workers.The American Arbitration Association will not count the presidential race ballots until December under an unusual schedule adopted by the union's executive board, which said combining some aspects of two elections would save money.
pdonohue@nydailynews.com
Thank you; From the Entire TBOU Slate we appreciate your support,You had the Courage to Vote for Change and, that change starts now: TBOU Stations is seeking membership input this summer before the TWU Convention so we can create the members agenda as part of the platform at the TWU Convention in Las Vegas this fall on:
Thursday July 16th from 4:00 PM to 7:00PM
North Star Fund in Mid-town Manhattan
520 8th avenue 22nd floor bet (36 &37) street
Take A , C or E Train to 34 street
Visit our website at http://www.tbou.org/ daily for all your TWU convention news, events and receive live reports via web during the 2009 TWU Convention this fall from TBOU. Be part of the Rebuilding of TWU Local Join the Movement ,Take Back Our Union the Change is here now !
Transit union leader Roger Toussaint & Co. suffer a series of defeats
BY Pete Donohue DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, June 25th 2009,
Transit union leader Roger Toussaint, who led the 2005 Christmastime strike that crippled the bus and subway system has lost his ironclad grip on Transport Workers Union Local 100. A faction of Toussaint loyalists suffered a series of stunning defeats Monday when ballots for delegates to the international's convention were counted.
The loyalist "United Invincible" faction won dozens of uncontested races - but lost about 40 of 67 of the
Head-to-head contests against the anti-Toussaint "Take Back Our Union" camp, sources said Tuesday.
That doesn't bode well for Toussaint and his handpicked successor, acting Local 100 President Curtis Tate, who heads the United Invincible slate. Toussaint stepped down after taking a promotion to the international organization.Ballots for president, secretary-treasurer and other Local 100 leadership posts were mailed out this month ,but haven't been counted.
"If I was a betting man, I'd say John (Samuelsen) is going to win," J.P. Patafio, a high-ranking union official, said of the Take Back Our Union presidential candidate.Samuelsen's campaign has claimed Toussaint, Tate and the current union administration have been too
accommodating to Metropolitan Transportation Authority management since the strike. Toussaint and Tate have said they've won safety and other improvements through cooperation after the walkout. A Tate spokesman declined to comment.The union hasn't officially released the results of the delegates' races.Ballots for delegate seats and local leadership posts were mailed out this month to transit workers.The American Arbitration Association will not count the presidential race ballots until December under an unusual schedule adopted by the union's executive board, which said combining some aspects of two elections would save money.
pdonohue@nydailynews.com
Thank you; From the Entire TBOU Slate we appreciate your support,You had the Courage to Vote for Change and, that change starts now: TBOU Stations is seeking membership input this summer before the TWU Convention so we can create the members agenda as part of the platform at the TWU Convention in Las Vegas this fall on:
Thursday July 16th from 4:00 PM to 7:00PM
North Star Fund in Mid-town Manhattan
520 8th avenue 22nd floor bet (36 &37) street
Take A , C or E Train to 34 street
Visit our website at http://www.tbou.org/ daily for all your TWU convention news, events and receive live reports via web during the 2009 TWU Convention this fall from TBOU. Be part of the Rebuilding of TWU Local Join the Movement ,Take Back Our Union the Change is here now !
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
TBOU Coalition Building-New Yorkers for a Safe Transit meeting Wednesday July 1
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) is working with other organizations to keep Mass Transit Safe New Yorkers for Safe Transit is such an organization and raising the correct questions riders:
What kinds of violence do you see on NYC’s public transit system?
How can communities intervene? Respond?
What should the MTA do to curb/eliminate sexual harassment, assaults and hate violence?
What should perpetrator accountability look like?
New Yorkers for Safe Transit invites you to our next general meeting to:
· Learn about and evaluate how communities outside NYC address violence in public transit.
· Share your insights on how to pressure the MTA on this very issue.
Wednesday, July 1st @ 5:30 – 7p.
Location: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (b/w Bank & Bethune streets), Manhattan.
For more info or to RSVP, email newyorkersforsafetransit@gmail.com
or call (718) 522.0822
New Yorkers for Safe Transit (NYfST) is a collection of organizations and advocates dedicated to eliminating harassment and assaults—particularly gender or discrimination based—on public transportation in New York City. The coalition focuses on raising public awareness, community building, and facilitating changes that ensure New Yorkers can get from one location to another safely and securely. For more information please call (718) 522-0822 or email newyorkersforsafetransit@gmail.com.
Check us out at http://nyersforsafetransit.wordpress.com/.
What kinds of violence do you see on NYC’s public transit system?
How can communities intervene? Respond?
What should the MTA do to curb/eliminate sexual harassment, assaults and hate violence?
What should perpetrator accountability look like?
New Yorkers for Safe Transit invites you to our next general meeting to:
· Learn about and evaluate how communities outside NYC address violence in public transit.
· Share your insights on how to pressure the MTA on this very issue.
Wednesday, July 1st @ 5:30 – 7p.
Location: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (b/w Bank & Bethune streets), Manhattan.
For more info or to RSVP, email newyorkersforsafetransit@gmail.com
or call (718) 522.0822
New Yorkers for Safe Transit (NYfST) is a collection of organizations and advocates dedicated to eliminating harassment and assaults—particularly gender or discrimination based—on public transportation in New York City. The coalition focuses on raising public awareness, community building, and facilitating changes that ensure New Yorkers can get from one location to another safely and securely. For more information please call (718) 522-0822 or email newyorkersforsafetransit@gmail.com.
Check us out at http://nyersforsafetransit.wordpress.com/.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
TBOU Media Alert-Take Back Our Union Members to be live on WBAI Tonight 99.5 FM 7-8PM
Tonight Monday June 22, from 7-8PM: Building Bridges Three (3)Topics:
1) Peoples’ Voices on the International Economic Crisis--
2) Bloomberg Gotta Go: Workers Protest 2600 School Layoffs at City Hall Rally
3) Oh No! They’re Not Thinking Of Closing Subway Booths Again?
Oh No! They’re Not Thinking Of Closing Subway Booths Again? with:
Marvin Holland, Founder, Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Movement
Christine Williams, Chair Woman’s Initiative Committee,TBOU
Maurice Jenkins, Vice Presidential Candidate Stations, TBOU
The MTA has received bailout money from Albany but still plans to close over 150 subway booths even as subway crime is on the rise. There was an attempted murder and robbery of transit employees on May 9, 2009, and just two weeks later, on May 24, a woman was trapped and robbed in the Hi-exit wheel at the Halsey Street station. Despite these serious incidents, the MTA has already begun to stop staffing many subway booths around the city.Join us on WBAI tonight as we build a coalition of Transit workers,riders and activists to keep mass transit safe and then at our Labor Round Table this Wednesday June 24 at the North Star Fund 520 8th avenue on the 22nd floor in (mid-town Manhattan) from 5PM to 7PM.
Peoples’ Voices on the International Economic Crisis. Jana Silverman, Coordinator of Campaigns of Social Watch, an NGO network monitoring poverty eradication & gender equality, headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay .
Gemma Adaba, Representative,UN, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), NY
Milena Kadieva, Legal Advisor& Project Coordinator, Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Plavdiv, Bulgaria
Beverly Keene, Latin American Coordinator, Jubilee South Network, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Responses to the current global economic crisis have been inadequate and fail to fully address the myriad of related global crises, such as food security and climate change. An international coalition of ‘working’ people directly impacted by these crises, and civil society organizations, met in a public forum Saturday to deliver this message to world leaders in advance of this week’s UN Conference on the economic crisis being organized by Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the current President of the UN General Assembly (and a Sandinista liberation theology priest)
Bloomberg Gotta Go: Workers Protest 2600 School Layoffs at City Hall Rally More than a thousand members of Board of Education Employees, Local 372, DC37 representing 26,000 NYC school workers, rallied at City Hall to stop the proposed layoffs of 2,600 school employees, including drug counselors, school aides, family counselors and hall monitors. They cheered union speakers and elected officials from the City government including Comptroller Bill Thompson, while jeering the Mayor, calling on him and the City Council to "Cut waste, not jobs!" by eliminating costly private contracts.
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/ Our website is http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/
1) Peoples’ Voices on the International Economic Crisis--
2) Bloomberg Gotta Go: Workers Protest 2600 School Layoffs at City Hall Rally
3) Oh No! They’re Not Thinking Of Closing Subway Booths Again?
Oh No! They’re Not Thinking Of Closing Subway Booths Again? with:
Marvin Holland, Founder, Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Movement
Christine Williams, Chair Woman’s Initiative Committee,TBOU
Maurice Jenkins, Vice Presidential Candidate Stations, TBOU
The MTA has received bailout money from Albany but still plans to close over 150 subway booths even as subway crime is on the rise. There was an attempted murder and robbery of transit employees on May 9, 2009, and just two weeks later, on May 24, a woman was trapped and robbed in the Hi-exit wheel at the Halsey Street station. Despite these serious incidents, the MTA has already begun to stop staffing many subway booths around the city.Join us on WBAI tonight as we build a coalition of Transit workers,riders and activists to keep mass transit safe and then at our Labor Round Table this Wednesday June 24 at the North Star Fund 520 8th avenue on the 22nd floor in (mid-town Manhattan) from 5PM to 7PM.
Peoples’ Voices on the International Economic Crisis. Jana Silverman, Coordinator of Campaigns of Social Watch, an NGO network monitoring poverty eradication & gender equality, headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay .
Gemma Adaba, Representative,UN, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), NY
Milena Kadieva, Legal Advisor& Project Coordinator, Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, Plavdiv, Bulgaria
Beverly Keene, Latin American Coordinator, Jubilee South Network, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Responses to the current global economic crisis have been inadequate and fail to fully address the myriad of related global crises, such as food security and climate change. An international coalition of ‘working’ people directly impacted by these crises, and civil society organizations, met in a public forum Saturday to deliver this message to world leaders in advance of this week’s UN Conference on the economic crisis being organized by Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, the current President of the UN General Assembly (and a Sandinista liberation theology priest)
Bloomberg Gotta Go: Workers Protest 2600 School Layoffs at City Hall Rally More than a thousand members of Board of Education Employees, Local 372, DC37 representing 26,000 NYC school workers, rallied at City Hall to stop the proposed layoffs of 2,600 school employees, including drug counselors, school aides, family counselors and hall monitors. They cheered union speakers and elected officials from the City government including Comptroller Bill Thompson, while jeering the Mayor, calling on him and the City Council to "Cut waste, not jobs!" by eliminating costly private contracts.
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Building Bridges is regularly broadcast live over WBAI, 99.5 FM in the N.Y.C Metropolitan area on Mondays from 7-8pm EST and is streamed, archived and pod cast at http://www.wbai.org/ Our website is http://www.buildingbridgesradio.org/
Friday, June 19, 2009
TBOU Action Update-Wednesday June 24 ,2009 Labor Round Table Topic "Keeping Mass Transit Safe"
This Wednesday, June 24th, the Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Movement will bring together transit riders, workers, advocates and activists to build a coalition to keep mass transit safe.The MTA has received bailout money from the legislation in Albany to stop the service cuts but still plans to close over 100 subway booths this summer, despite lingering safety concerns. On May 9, 2009, there was an attempted murder and robbery of two transit employees at the Winthrop street station on the 2 line. Just two weeks later a woman was trapped inside of an exit wheel and robbed at the Hasley street station on the L line. Despite these highly serious incidents (as well the many crimes that go unreported), and the fact that 2/3 of transit riders want the subway booths open, the MTA is already begun the process of closing them. Help us keep Mass Transit safe for all New Yorkers by joining us :
This round table will be sponsored by the TBOU Women's Initiative Committee and TBOU Stations Division. To find out more about TBOU visit our website at www.takebackourunion.org
Date: Wednesday, June 24
Time: 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M.
Location: North Star Fund (Midtown Manhattan)
520 8th avenue 22nd floor(bet 36 and 37) street
Directions: A, C, or E train to 34 street
This round table will be sponsored by the TBOU Women's Initiative Committee and TBOU Stations Division. To find out more about TBOU visit our website at www.takebackourunion.org
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Elecetion Update-Send Your Ballots Back Now
Brothers and Sisters, If you haven't sent your ballots in yet (remember, there are 2 ballots, one for convention delegates and the other for Local officers, Executive Board, and Division officers), don't wait any longer. The ballots have to be received by 8:30 AM on Monday, 6/22. Pick them up off the table where you left them, mark your choices for the Take Back Our Union Slate, and send them back now.
If you haven't received your ballots yet, and your back dues were all paid up on June 1, call the American Arbitration Association at 1-800-529-5218 and ask them to send you ballots. Tell them you need both of the ballots. Don't wait any longer. Call now for more information on the TWU Local 100 Election go to www.tbou2009.org
If you haven't received your ballots yet, and your back dues were all paid up on June 1, call the American Arbitration Association at 1-800-529-5218 and ask them to send you ballots. Tell them you need both of the ballots. Don't wait any longer. Call now for more information on the TWU Local 100 Election go to www.tbou2009.org
Sunday, June 14, 2009
TBOU ACTION UPDATE :Meet the Author of "Embedded with Organized Labor" Steve Early this Thursday June 18 2009
Meet the author of: Embedded with Organized Labor:Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home A new book by Steve Early, Labor journalist, lawyer, and former CWA organizer
Speaking at: Brooklyn College Graduate Center For Worker Education,
CUNY 25 Broadway (7th Floor Auditorium), Manhattan (across from Bowling Green)
Thursday, June 18 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.
Find Out More About:· Workers and the economic crisis· The fight for health care reform· The fate of “Employee Free Choice”· Current struggles for union democracy and rank-and-file control· The future of national labor federations like Change to Win and AFL-CIO
Sponsored by: Monthly Review Press, Working USA, Labor Notes, New Labor Forum, N.Y. Taxi Workers Alliance, the Brecht Forum, ROC-United, and CWA Local 1180
Refreshments will be served. For more information, call: 617-930-7327
To order the book online, visit: http://www.monthlyreview.org=for/ all the latest news in Labor and unions always visit http://www.takebackourunion.org/
Speaking at: Brooklyn College Graduate Center For Worker Education,
CUNY 25 Broadway (7th Floor Auditorium), Manhattan (across from Bowling Green)
Thursday, June 18 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.
Find Out More About:· Workers and the economic crisis· The fight for health care reform· The fate of “Employee Free Choice”· Current struggles for union democracy and rank-and-file control· The future of national labor federations like Change to Win and AFL-CIO
Sponsored by: Monthly Review Press, Working USA, Labor Notes, New Labor Forum, N.Y. Taxi Workers Alliance, the Brecht Forum, ROC-United, and CWA Local 1180
Refreshments will be served. For more information, call: 617-930-7327
To order the book online, visit: http://www.monthlyreview.org=for/ all the latest news in Labor and unions always visit http://www.takebackourunion.org/
Saturday, June 13, 2009
TBOU Action Alert-Take Back WBAI Demonstration Wednesday June 17, 2009
DEMONSTRATION: Come OUT... YOU need to join us!... STAND UP AGAINST THE PURGE!
Take Back WBAI ! Undo the Coup !
Wednesday June 17, 2009 from 5PM - 8 PM
In front of WBAI, 120 Wall St. (corner of South St. ), Trains: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Wall St .
Download demonstration flyer: Front. and Back
Next Meeting: Coalition to Take Back WBAI
Tuesday, June 16, 6:30-10:00 PM
District Council 1707 75 Varick St. (north of Canal St. ), 14th floor, Manhattan (A or 1 train to Canal St .).
IT IS URGENT THAT YOU JOIN THE STATION BY JUNE 30
(by donating $25 or more or 3 hours of volunteer work) so that you have the right to vote in this summer's board election and for the recall of destructive board members.
Pledge online at http://www.wbai.org.
What do we do about this? Join our discussion or Interested in more details about the struggle?
Take Back WBAI ! Undo the Coup !
Wednesday June 17, 2009 from 5PM - 8 PM
In front of WBAI, 120 Wall St. (corner of South St. ), Trains: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Wall St .
Download demonstration flyer: Front. and Back
Next Meeting: Coalition to Take Back WBAI
Tuesday, June 16, 6:30-10:00 PM
District Council 1707 75 Varick St. (north of Canal St. ), 14th floor, Manhattan (A or 1 train to Canal St .).
IT IS URGENT THAT YOU JOIN THE STATION BY JUNE 30
(by donating $25 or more or 3 hours of volunteer work) so that you have the right to vote in this summer's board election and for the recall of destructive board members.
Pledge online at http://www.wbai.org.
What do we do about this? Join our discussion or Interested in more details about the struggle?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Elecetion Update-Message from John Samuelsen
A Message from John Samuelsen
Thank you for your support. With it we will change Local 100 and make it a strong union again. In this campaign I have met and talked with thousands of Local 100 members and it is clear – they want change. They are tired of the old union politics. They want a new, revitalized Local 100. The membership needs and deserves it.
If you have not yet voted, please do so today. Put an “X” three times in the slate boxes for Take Back Our Union. Put the ballots in the mail so you don’t forget to send them back in time to be counted.
If you have not received a ballot by now but paid your dues and came into good standing on or before June 1, 2009, call (800) 529-5218 and ask the American Arbitration Association to send you a ballot.
We have gotten a few reports that United Invincible supporters are asking people to give them their ballots. If true, that’s cheating. It violates the election rules and federal law. Don’t do it. It’s your vote in a secret ballot election. No one will know how you voted unless you tell them.
United Invincible’s campaign of lies has fallen apart. People see through it. Their campaign of personal attacks against me and trying to divide one group of members against another has not worked and couldn’t. Local 100 members know that only by working together in one union can we all do better.
The Truth about the Sale of the Building
One of the questions I have been asked many times has to do with finding out the facts about the sale of our Union’s building. The truth is the current leadership of this union attempted to sell the union hall two weeks before the expiration of our contract in 2005. Prior to selling it, Roger Toussaint and Ed Watt were strongly advised by the Local 100 Executive Board committee established to look at the building sale issue, that the deal didn’t make sense.
Toussaint Fires me for Opposing the Sale
On December 3, 2006, several elected Maintenance of Way officers, including myself issued a public statement to Toussaint urging him to delay the sale of the building until after the contract fight - and subsequent strike - was over. I and another elected Track Division officer were then fired from the Union for taking that position.
Why the Sale was Wrong
In the summer of 2008, I used the rights I had under federal law and demanded to review documents related to the sale and resale of our Union Hall. Contrary to the current leadership's assertions that there was nothing wrong with the building sale, the deal was riddled with problems.
*Three dummy corporations were established for the purposes of purchasing our Union Hall. Still to this day, the names of the owners of those corporations have not been fully revealed.
*The whereabouts of the cash assets resulting from the sale was never fully explained to the union’s executive board or to the members of this union. As a result of my review of the records I found out that much of the money was invested in a mysterious corporation called Land of America. It was not, as Tate and Toussaint have said, initially invested solely in Treasury Bonds.
*The investment in Land of America Corp. was done to avoid Local 100 having to pay the capital gains tax on the profit made from the sale.
*Due to complete incompetence on the part of Watt, (Toussaint’s right hand man and Tate’s advisor) the Land of America scheme failed and we had to pay $8,000,000 in capital gains tax to the federal government.
*Toussaint claims he got top dollar for the building when he sold it for $60 million. It was sold at nearly the height of the Manhattan real estate market.
*A little more then a year later, the secret owners of the building "flipped " it for $90 million, making a quick $30,000,000 profit on our Union Hall. The second $90 million sale was accomplished, in my opinion, in a weaker real estate market.
Today we are paying rent on a building which we once owned. We went from earning millions of dollars in rent to paying millions of dollars in rent. Yet, Tate, Watt and the rest of the current leadership insists that the sale of the building was great for Local 100.
The Real Difference
In many ways, what happened to the building shows the real difference between me and Tate and the people running on our respective slates. I stood up to Toussaint when he was doing something wrong. I supported him when he was doing something right, but when the interests of the membership were at stake, I demonstrated I am willing to pay the personal price of doing what I know is right.
By contrast, a vote for Tate is a vote for Toussaint. Tate and the rest of his slate never stood up to Toussaint about selling the building or anything else. If United Invincible never could stand up for the members inside our union, how can they be expected to stand up for the members to management and others outside our union? The truth is most of the members know they can’t be trusted.
I have the proven experience of organizing workers to successfully stand-up to management. Please stand with me and thousands of your Union Sisters and Brothers and cast your vote for the entire Take Back Our Union slate. Vote today before it is too late.
Vote for Change
During the campaign, President Barrack Obama said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” President Obama is right. And your time is now.
Again, on behalf of every member running for 175 spots in this election on the Take Back Our Union slate, I thank you for putting your trust in change. You will not be disappointed.
John Samuelsen -To visit our campaign web site: http://www.tbou2009.org.
Thank you for your support. With it we will change Local 100 and make it a strong union again. In this campaign I have met and talked with thousands of Local 100 members and it is clear – they want change. They are tired of the old union politics. They want a new, revitalized Local 100. The membership needs and deserves it.
If you have not yet voted, please do so today. Put an “X” three times in the slate boxes for Take Back Our Union. Put the ballots in the mail so you don’t forget to send them back in time to be counted.
If you have not received a ballot by now but paid your dues and came into good standing on or before June 1, 2009, call (800) 529-5218 and ask the American Arbitration Association to send you a ballot.
We have gotten a few reports that United Invincible supporters are asking people to give them their ballots. If true, that’s cheating. It violates the election rules and federal law. Don’t do it. It’s your vote in a secret ballot election. No one will know how you voted unless you tell them.
United Invincible’s campaign of lies has fallen apart. People see through it. Their campaign of personal attacks against me and trying to divide one group of members against another has not worked and couldn’t. Local 100 members know that only by working together in one union can we all do better.
The Truth about the Sale of the Building
One of the questions I have been asked many times has to do with finding out the facts about the sale of our Union’s building. The truth is the current leadership of this union attempted to sell the union hall two weeks before the expiration of our contract in 2005. Prior to selling it, Roger Toussaint and Ed Watt were strongly advised by the Local 100 Executive Board committee established to look at the building sale issue, that the deal didn’t make sense.
Toussaint Fires me for Opposing the Sale
On December 3, 2006, several elected Maintenance of Way officers, including myself issued a public statement to Toussaint urging him to delay the sale of the building until after the contract fight - and subsequent strike - was over. I and another elected Track Division officer were then fired from the Union for taking that position.
Why the Sale was Wrong
In the summer of 2008, I used the rights I had under federal law and demanded to review documents related to the sale and resale of our Union Hall. Contrary to the current leadership's assertions that there was nothing wrong with the building sale, the deal was riddled with problems.
*Three dummy corporations were established for the purposes of purchasing our Union Hall. Still to this day, the names of the owners of those corporations have not been fully revealed.
*The whereabouts of the cash assets resulting from the sale was never fully explained to the union’s executive board or to the members of this union. As a result of my review of the records I found out that much of the money was invested in a mysterious corporation called Land of America. It was not, as Tate and Toussaint have said, initially invested solely in Treasury Bonds.
*The investment in Land of America Corp. was done to avoid Local 100 having to pay the capital gains tax on the profit made from the sale.
*Due to complete incompetence on the part of Watt, (Toussaint’s right hand man and Tate’s advisor) the Land of America scheme failed and we had to pay $8,000,000 in capital gains tax to the federal government.
*Toussaint claims he got top dollar for the building when he sold it for $60 million. It was sold at nearly the height of the Manhattan real estate market.
*A little more then a year later, the secret owners of the building "flipped " it for $90 million, making a quick $30,000,000 profit on our Union Hall. The second $90 million sale was accomplished, in my opinion, in a weaker real estate market.
Today we are paying rent on a building which we once owned. We went from earning millions of dollars in rent to paying millions of dollars in rent. Yet, Tate, Watt and the rest of the current leadership insists that the sale of the building was great for Local 100.
The Real Difference
In many ways, what happened to the building shows the real difference between me and Tate and the people running on our respective slates. I stood up to Toussaint when he was doing something wrong. I supported him when he was doing something right, but when the interests of the membership were at stake, I demonstrated I am willing to pay the personal price of doing what I know is right.
By contrast, a vote for Tate is a vote for Toussaint. Tate and the rest of his slate never stood up to Toussaint about selling the building or anything else. If United Invincible never could stand up for the members inside our union, how can they be expected to stand up for the members to management and others outside our union? The truth is most of the members know they can’t be trusted.
I have the proven experience of organizing workers to successfully stand-up to management. Please stand with me and thousands of your Union Sisters and Brothers and cast your vote for the entire Take Back Our Union slate. Vote today before it is too late.
Vote for Change
During the campaign, President Barrack Obama said: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” President Obama is right. And your time is now.
Again, on behalf of every member running for 175 spots in this election on the Take Back Our Union slate, I thank you for putting your trust in change. You will not be disappointed.
John Samuelsen -To visit our campaign web site: http://www.tbou2009.org.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Update-Tomorrow June 7 ,2009 Protest the Foreclosed Home Auction
The Bail Out the People Movement and the Take Back Our Union Movement :
Protest the Foreclosed Home Auction!
Sunday, 11:00 am
In front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel
109 E 42 Street
Between Park and Lexington in Manhattan
* No more foreclosed home auctions!
* No more foreclosures and evictions!
* Demand a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions!
The Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) is at it again – with another foreclosure auction called to help real estate players profit off of people who have lost their homes.
Just 2 weeks ago, a Detroit homeowner died while resisting a foreclosure eviction after a five-hour shootout with the police. The banks, the recipients collectively of over $12 trillion in government handouts, are literally getting away with murder. They and mortgage firms are foreclosing homes at the rate of 15,000 a day – and with the help of firms like REDC, turning around and selling those homes to someone else.
Foreclosure auctions are advertised in the media as a chance for aspiring homeowners to get good deals. “Putting people in homes they otherwise couldn’t afford” – that was the same mantra behind the subprime mortgages cooked up by predatory lenders.
In reality, foreclosure auctions are bonanzas for these very lenders – the same home mortgage industries and real estate players that are kicking families into the street. Even individuals who manage to scrape together enough savings to bid on a home at one of these auctions can be outbid in a heartbeat by a real estate investor with millions in capital.
These foreclosure auctions are in direct violation of the laws signed by President Barack Obama – the Helping Families Save Their Home Act and the Making Home Affordable Program – which require Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Chase Home Finance, CitiMortgage and Countrywide, among others, to modify mortgages.
The mortgage of the Detroit homeowner who died resisting eviction was owned by Chase Bank, which had a duty under federal law to work out a solution that should have prevented the bailiff from attempting to evict him in the first place.
The Bail Out the People Movement calls for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Not one more person or family should be kicked out of their home or lose their life because of the out-of-control greed of the banks and real estate companies. And on Sunday, we will be in front of the Grand Hyatt to let the REDC know it is not welcome here.
The New York houses that will be sold to the highest bidder on Sunday are the homes of poor and working people who lived in places like Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Newark, Long Island, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania, who were forced out of their homes by Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan-Chase and other banks.
In the biggest economic crisis since the depression of the 30s, these auctions should not be taking place; they are a symptom of the cruel and criminal mass eviction campaign that will continue to grow until people unite and say ‘No More!’
The only force that will stop foreclosures is mass grassroots mobilization. Join us on June 7 to demand an end to the auction!
* We call upon the City of New York to stop the June 7 auction and we demand an immediate stop to call foreclosures and evictions.
* We call upon the Grand Hyatt and the Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) to cancel the auction, set up to allow financial predators to profit from throwing people out on the street.
for more information go to http://www.bailoutpeople.org/
Protest the Foreclosed Home Auction!
Sunday, 11:00 am
In front of the Grand Hyatt Hotel
109 E 42 Street
Between Park and Lexington in Manhattan
* No more foreclosed home auctions!
* No more foreclosures and evictions!
* Demand a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions!
The Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) is at it again – with another foreclosure auction called to help real estate players profit off of people who have lost their homes.
Just 2 weeks ago, a Detroit homeowner died while resisting a foreclosure eviction after a five-hour shootout with the police. The banks, the recipients collectively of over $12 trillion in government handouts, are literally getting away with murder. They and mortgage firms are foreclosing homes at the rate of 15,000 a day – and with the help of firms like REDC, turning around and selling those homes to someone else.
Foreclosure auctions are advertised in the media as a chance for aspiring homeowners to get good deals. “Putting people in homes they otherwise couldn’t afford” – that was the same mantra behind the subprime mortgages cooked up by predatory lenders.
In reality, foreclosure auctions are bonanzas for these very lenders – the same home mortgage industries and real estate players that are kicking families into the street. Even individuals who manage to scrape together enough savings to bid on a home at one of these auctions can be outbid in a heartbeat by a real estate investor with millions in capital.
These foreclosure auctions are in direct violation of the laws signed by President Barack Obama – the Helping Families Save Their Home Act and the Making Home Affordable Program – which require Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Chase Home Finance, CitiMortgage and Countrywide, among others, to modify mortgages.
The mortgage of the Detroit homeowner who died resisting eviction was owned by Chase Bank, which had a duty under federal law to work out a solution that should have prevented the bailiff from attempting to evict him in the first place.
The Bail Out the People Movement calls for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Not one more person or family should be kicked out of their home or lose their life because of the out-of-control greed of the banks and real estate companies. And on Sunday, we will be in front of the Grand Hyatt to let the REDC know it is not welcome here.
The New York houses that will be sold to the highest bidder on Sunday are the homes of poor and working people who lived in places like Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Newark, Long Island, upstate New York, and Pennsylvania, who were forced out of their homes by Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan-Chase and other banks.
In the biggest economic crisis since the depression of the 30s, these auctions should not be taking place; they are a symptom of the cruel and criminal mass eviction campaign that will continue to grow until people unite and say ‘No More!’
The only force that will stop foreclosures is mass grassroots mobilization. Join us on June 7 to demand an end to the auction!
* We call upon the City of New York to stop the June 7 auction and we demand an immediate stop to call foreclosures and evictions.
* We call upon the Grand Hyatt and the Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC) to cancel the auction, set up to allow financial predators to profit from throwing people out on the street.
for more information go to http://www.bailoutpeople.org/
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) in Solidarity with National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) Fighting for Union Democracy
As we in Take Back Our Union (TBOU) struggle to win this bitter election lets not forget that battles for union democracy and membership control of unions are taking place all over the country.One of the most important and courageous struggles for internal union democracy we've witnessed in a long time is being waged by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
At this moment the first major vote, involving 10,000 home care workers in Fresno is underway.SEIU has imported hundreds of paid staff from all over the country, encouraging a thuggish attitude to beat NUWH.Trustee Dave Regan showed an ugly face exhorting these hired ground troops to "put a stake through the heart of NUHW.This type of behavior should sound familiar to TBOU members as we have encountered these tactics from Toussaint/Tate and UI . So next week please come out and support :
NUHW Fundraising Parties with Sal Rosselli
---- Saturday, June 13 - 7:00 PM - 275 19th St., Brooklyn, NY----
and
---- Sunday, June 14 - 2:00 PM - 8 Aubrey Rd., Montclair, NJ----
Please feel free to call (802-522-6227) if you have any questions. I hope many of you can make one these most important fund raising parties next week.
Send donations for NUHW to
http://nuhw.org/victoryfund
Please forward this email widely to fellow transit workers,trade unionists and social justice activists for more information on union democracy struggles all over the world always visit www.takebackourunion.org .
At this moment the first major vote, involving 10,000 home care workers in Fresno is underway.SEIU has imported hundreds of paid staff from all over the country, encouraging a thuggish attitude to beat NUWH.Trustee Dave Regan showed an ugly face exhorting these hired ground troops to "put a stake through the heart of NUHW.This type of behavior should sound familiar to TBOU members as we have encountered these tactics from Toussaint/Tate and UI . So next week please come out and support :
NUHW Fundraising Parties with Sal Rosselli
---- Saturday, June 13 - 7:00 PM - 275 19th St., Brooklyn, NY----
and
---- Sunday, June 14 - 2:00 PM - 8 Aubrey Rd., Montclair, NJ----
Please feel free to call (802-522-6227) if you have any questions. I hope many of you can make one these most important fund raising parties next week.
Send donations for NUHW to
http://nuhw.org/victoryfund
Please forward this email widely to fellow transit workers,trade unionists and social justice activists for more information on union democracy struggles all over the world always visit www.takebackourunion.org .
Friday, June 5, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Election Campaign Message -They said " Save Our Union "
Dear Friends
By now you should have received your election ballots.
Your ability to impact the direction YOUR UNION will take, the direction and terms of your employment is a privilege that you may express now! Your choice, your vote will help determine your work life.
Over the past 8 1/2 years Local 100 has been under the iron fist of Roger Toussaint. Unfortunately he seemed to have been more concerned with utter domination of the Union Hall, the membership, and verbal assaults of Mayor Bloomberg, TWU International past President Sonny Hall and various other officials. These antics have resulted in the poorest showing of 2 1/2 % annual contracts within the NYC Municipal Unions which averaged close to 4% annually during the same period.
Toussaint basically told you 3 years ago that you don't know how to vote. He insisted that you revote on the most disastrously conceived contract with a 1 1/2 % gross wage contribution to our health plan. And if any of you have read the papers you know that this virus was spread to how many Municipal Unions in the past week.
Toussaint shamelessly hires and fires your elected officers. He manipulates the Executive Board in the same fashion: Ex B Members have become his puppets controlled by their paychecks.
Many will remember that not 8 months into his first term Toussaint challenged Sonny Hall for International President. He was ready to leave us then. He wanted to leave Local 100. He claims he has left the Local now. But by his own words ACCEPTED A POSITION WITH DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOCAL 100 AFFAIRS. And Mr Tate says he is not Toussaint's puppet.
My friends, I am deeply and truly troubled. I served you on the Executive Board in the prior term and I saw and heard the most preposterous interpretations and claims that Toussaint regularly made. Shamelessly!
But what troubles me more is at no time did I ever get the sense that Toussaint, Watt or any of their "team" were the least bit concerned about the state of the membership.Working conditions, wages and benefits were all weighed against the political impact, weighed on whether they could be "sold" to the membership. Just when I had thought it couldn't get any more disgusting Toussaint or Watt came up with yet another plot, another way to blindside us, another way to self-aggrandisement. These two have been nothing if not a testament to the old adage "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!"
Enough.
The John Samuelsen-headed Take Back Our Union slate not only promises a meaningful change but proposes to do so with the deepest commitment to transparent democracy and accountability to the membership by exercising Executive Board Member Candidates committed to stay off release time. That is the foundation of a member driven Local. A local whose administration's power is balanced by the members' representatives at all times. The rest is easy because there is true communication.
Carefully review the ballots you've received. You will find a lot of familiar but also new names on both slates.
Now ask yourself this:
Why did Curtis Tate's shopgates include so many current officers?
Do you recall last election when these same -then new names - officers were accompanied by the then current officers WHO HAVE ALL REMAINED ON STAFF in the current term?
Where were these officers for the last 2 1/2 years since they were elected. Why are they campaigning on Release Time - your dues money?The TBOU team wants a meaningful change at Local 100. Roger Toussaint must go out with yesterday's news. "Son-Of-Roger" Tate cannot be permitted to carry on Toussaint's legacy of corruption, givebacks and mediocrity. That is why we have taken our own time to bring these messages to you.
Exercise your privilege! Vote! Vote the TBOU slate! Mark ONLY the TBOU slate box at the top of the ballot.
There is no need whatsoever to add in any of Roger's puppets. Any votes for any of Roger's candidates could result in knocking out a dedicated TBOU candidate.
STOP Roger's power grab at the upcoming International Convention.
VOTE STRONG! VOTE TAKE BACK OUR UNION!!
-- I hope you remember me and my slate TAKE BACK OUR UNION favorably.Fraternally,RCI George PerlsteinCar Maintenance Candidate for: Executive Board Vice Chair Road Car Inspectors International Convention Delegate
By now you should have received your election ballots.
Your ability to impact the direction YOUR UNION will take, the direction and terms of your employment is a privilege that you may express now! Your choice, your vote will help determine your work life.
Over the past 8 1/2 years Local 100 has been under the iron fist of Roger Toussaint. Unfortunately he seemed to have been more concerned with utter domination of the Union Hall, the membership, and verbal assaults of Mayor Bloomberg, TWU International past President Sonny Hall and various other officials. These antics have resulted in the poorest showing of 2 1/2 % annual contracts within the NYC Municipal Unions which averaged close to 4% annually during the same period.
Toussaint basically told you 3 years ago that you don't know how to vote. He insisted that you revote on the most disastrously conceived contract with a 1 1/2 % gross wage contribution to our health plan. And if any of you have read the papers you know that this virus was spread to how many Municipal Unions in the past week.
Toussaint shamelessly hires and fires your elected officers. He manipulates the Executive Board in the same fashion: Ex B Members have become his puppets controlled by their paychecks.
Many will remember that not 8 months into his first term Toussaint challenged Sonny Hall for International President. He was ready to leave us then. He wanted to leave Local 100. He claims he has left the Local now. But by his own words ACCEPTED A POSITION WITH DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOCAL 100 AFFAIRS. And Mr Tate says he is not Toussaint's puppet.
My friends, I am deeply and truly troubled. I served you on the Executive Board in the prior term and I saw and heard the most preposterous interpretations and claims that Toussaint regularly made. Shamelessly!
But what troubles me more is at no time did I ever get the sense that Toussaint, Watt or any of their "team" were the least bit concerned about the state of the membership.Working conditions, wages and benefits were all weighed against the political impact, weighed on whether they could be "sold" to the membership. Just when I had thought it couldn't get any more disgusting Toussaint or Watt came up with yet another plot, another way to blindside us, another way to self-aggrandisement. These two have been nothing if not a testament to the old adage "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!"
Enough.
The John Samuelsen-headed Take Back Our Union slate not only promises a meaningful change but proposes to do so with the deepest commitment to transparent democracy and accountability to the membership by exercising Executive Board Member Candidates committed to stay off release time. That is the foundation of a member driven Local. A local whose administration's power is balanced by the members' representatives at all times. The rest is easy because there is true communication.
Carefully review the ballots you've received. You will find a lot of familiar but also new names on both slates.
Now ask yourself this:
Why did Curtis Tate's shopgates include so many current officers?
Do you recall last election when these same -then new names - officers were accompanied by the then current officers WHO HAVE ALL REMAINED ON STAFF in the current term?
Where were these officers for the last 2 1/2 years since they were elected. Why are they campaigning on Release Time - your dues money?The TBOU team wants a meaningful change at Local 100. Roger Toussaint must go out with yesterday's news. "Son-Of-Roger" Tate cannot be permitted to carry on Toussaint's legacy of corruption, givebacks and mediocrity. That is why we have taken our own time to bring these messages to you.
Exercise your privilege! Vote! Vote the TBOU slate! Mark ONLY the TBOU slate box at the top of the ballot.
There is no need whatsoever to add in any of Roger's puppets. Any votes for any of Roger's candidates could result in knocking out a dedicated TBOU candidate.
STOP Roger's power grab at the upcoming International Convention.
VOTE STRONG! VOTE TAKE BACK OUR UNION!!
-- I hope you remember me and my slate TAKE BACK OUR UNION favorably.Fraternally,RCI George PerlsteinCar Maintenance Candidate for: Executive Board Vice Chair Road Car Inspectors International Convention Delegate
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Update-TWU Local 100 Ballots mail out June 2
Ballots for the TWU Local 100 union election were scheduled to be mailed our yesterday, June 2,2009. They must be received back at the American Arbitration Assoc. no later than June 22.
All members in good-standing as of June 1, 2009 are entitled to a ballot. If you do not receive a ballot by Friday, June 5, call the American Arbitration Assoc. at 1-800-529-5218 to have one sent to you. For more information about the TWU Local 100 election please visit : www.tbou2009.org
All members in good-standing as of June 1, 2009 are entitled to a ballot. If you do not receive a ballot by Friday, June 5, call the American Arbitration Assoc. at 1-800-529-5218 to have one sent to you. For more information about the TWU Local 100 election please visit : www.tbou2009.org
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Action Alert-Ballots mail out today TBOU Labor Round Table Tomorrow
ATTENTION MEMBERS OF TWU ARE YOU CONCERENED ABOUT OUR HEALTH CARE?
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) invites you to our Labor Round Table on:
Date: Wednesday June 3, 2009
Time: 4:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.
Place: North Star Fund (Mid-Town Manhattan)
520 8th avenue 22nd floor (Between 36 & 37) street
The round table will be sponsored by the Take Back Our Union (TBOU) movement as we take a close look at the merger of HIP/GHI into the new company Emblem Health, and their plan to privatize our health care. The privatization of Emblem Health will not only increase the 1.7% transit workers are already paying for health care but will also cause more claims to be denied. Find out who stands to gain and who stands to lose if Emblem Health is allowed to become a for profit company. Find out why President Toussaint and acting President Curtis Tate are so silent on this issue that will impact transit workers health care like never before. Don’t listen to lies and rumors about TBOU come out and see for yourself what the Take Back Our Union movement is all about. Over a thousand TWU members have attended our workshops and seminars in the last year and they all agree TBOU should be running our union. Here is your chance to find out why.
TWU Local 100 members Don't forget to mail back your ballots and Vote the entire Take Back Our Union Slate Today!
Scheduled Guest speakers for the June 3, 2009 Labor Round Table include:
Judy S. Gonzalez Single Payer NY
Ajamu K. Sankofa PHIMG Coalition
Billy Wharton Health Care Activist
Marvin Holland Take Back Our Union
To RSVP call our 24 hour TBOU automated Hotline @ (212) 631-5857 or email: to Events@TakeBackOurUnion.org and please visit our website at http://www.takebackourunion.org/
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) invites you to our Labor Round Table on:
Date: Wednesday June 3, 2009
Time: 4:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.
Place: North Star Fund (Mid-Town Manhattan)
520 8th avenue 22nd floor (Between 36 & 37) street
The round table will be sponsored by the Take Back Our Union (TBOU) movement as we take a close look at the merger of HIP/GHI into the new company Emblem Health, and their plan to privatize our health care. The privatization of Emblem Health will not only increase the 1.7% transit workers are already paying for health care but will also cause more claims to be denied. Find out who stands to gain and who stands to lose if Emblem Health is allowed to become a for profit company. Find out why President Toussaint and acting President Curtis Tate are so silent on this issue that will impact transit workers health care like never before. Don’t listen to lies and rumors about TBOU come out and see for yourself what the Take Back Our Union movement is all about. Over a thousand TWU members have attended our workshops and seminars in the last year and they all agree TBOU should be running our union. Here is your chance to find out why.
TWU Local 100 members Don't forget to mail back your ballots and Vote the entire Take Back Our Union Slate Today!
Scheduled Guest speakers for the June 3, 2009 Labor Round Table include:
Judy S. Gonzalez Single Payer NY
Ajamu K. Sankofa PHIMG Coalition
Billy Wharton Health Care Activist
Marvin Holland Take Back Our Union
To RSVP call our 24 hour TBOU automated Hotline @ (212) 631-5857 or email: to Events@TakeBackOurUnion.org and please visit our website at http://www.takebackourunion.org/
Monday, June 1, 2009
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Elecetion Update-Don't Forget About the Convention Delegates by Steve Downs
On June 2, two ballots will be mailed to members in good standing. One ballot contains the candidates for President and other Local officers, Executive Board, and Division officers. The second ballot has the candidates for delegates to the TWU convention.
The first ballot has been getting the most attention, but the one for convention delegates is important too. The convention is held once every four years.The officers of the national union are elected and the delegates vote on resolutions to guide the work of the officers for the next four years.
Here are a few reasons why you should vote for the Take Back Our Union slate for convention delegates:
* The election of International officers. Roger Toussaint expects to be elected a Vice-President of the national TWU. And he expects a job on the TWU payroll. He’s making this move so the members of Local 100 cannot hold him accountable for the damage he’s done to our Local. The only way you’ll have a say is through the delegates you send to the convention. The only way you can vote against Toussaint is to send TBOU’s candidates to the convention. We will vote against Roger Toussaint for any position with the national union.
* Amendments to the TWU Constitution. The convention is the place to make needed changes to the TWU Constitution. For example, Toussaint was able to hold onto his office despite receiving less than 50% of the votes in the 2006 election because the Constitution permits it. Changing the TWU Constitution to empower a Local to hold a run-off election when no candidate receives a majority is one needed change that will help protect members’ rights in the future. Another is prohibiting a Local President from sending a contract to binding arbitration without first getting the approval of the membership.
* Rejecting business-as-usual as a response to the economic crisis. TWU members, our families, and our communities, are confronting the effects of the economic crisis. Some of us will face the loss of our homes. The cost of healthcare remains a major stumbling block to achieving decent contracts. Trillions of our tax dollars are being used to help banks, insurance companies, and automakers survive. The TWU needs to stake out clear positions – once with substance, not platitudes -- regarding these and related challenges.
TBOU has not discussed all of these issues yet. For my part, if elected a delegate, I will advocate for the TWU to come down firmly in support of a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.
I will urge the TWU to back single-payer, a.k.a. Medicare-for-all, as the key to reform of the healthcare system. Healthcare should be about helping us all lead healthy and satisfying lives, not generating profits for insurance companies.
I will also push for the TWU to join with unions, environmental groups, and other allies in states, cities, and neighborhoods across the country to make sure that the financial and industrial companies that our tax dollars have bought controlling interests in are restructured in ways that preserve workers’ jobs and communities, promote union jobs and contracts, and that support the development of stable and sustainable industries.
Don’t treat the election of convention delegates as an after-thought. The actions taken at the TWU convention will shape our union and our lives for at least the next four years. Vote for the TBOU candidates to the convention.To learn more about all the work Take Back Our Union(TBOU) is doing around HealthCare ,Housing , Social Justice Issues and much much more go to www.takebackourunion.org -- Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100
The first ballot has been getting the most attention, but the one for convention delegates is important too. The convention is held once every four years.The officers of the national union are elected and the delegates vote on resolutions to guide the work of the officers for the next four years.
Here are a few reasons why you should vote for the Take Back Our Union slate for convention delegates:
* The election of International officers. Roger Toussaint expects to be elected a Vice-President of the national TWU. And he expects a job on the TWU payroll. He’s making this move so the members of Local 100 cannot hold him accountable for the damage he’s done to our Local. The only way you’ll have a say is through the delegates you send to the convention. The only way you can vote against Toussaint is to send TBOU’s candidates to the convention. We will vote against Roger Toussaint for any position with the national union.
* Amendments to the TWU Constitution. The convention is the place to make needed changes to the TWU Constitution. For example, Toussaint was able to hold onto his office despite receiving less than 50% of the votes in the 2006 election because the Constitution permits it. Changing the TWU Constitution to empower a Local to hold a run-off election when no candidate receives a majority is one needed change that will help protect members’ rights in the future. Another is prohibiting a Local President from sending a contract to binding arbitration without first getting the approval of the membership.
* Rejecting business-as-usual as a response to the economic crisis. TWU members, our families, and our communities, are confronting the effects of the economic crisis. Some of us will face the loss of our homes. The cost of healthcare remains a major stumbling block to achieving decent contracts. Trillions of our tax dollars are being used to help banks, insurance companies, and automakers survive. The TWU needs to stake out clear positions – once with substance, not platitudes -- regarding these and related challenges.
TBOU has not discussed all of these issues yet. For my part, if elected a delegate, I will advocate for the TWU to come down firmly in support of a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.
I will urge the TWU to back single-payer, a.k.a. Medicare-for-all, as the key to reform of the healthcare system. Healthcare should be about helping us all lead healthy and satisfying lives, not generating profits for insurance companies.
I will also push for the TWU to join with unions, environmental groups, and other allies in states, cities, and neighborhoods across the country to make sure that the financial and industrial companies that our tax dollars have bought controlling interests in are restructured in ways that preserve workers’ jobs and communities, promote union jobs and contracts, and that support the development of stable and sustainable industries.
Don’t treat the election of convention delegates as an after-thought. The actions taken at the TWU convention will shape our union and our lives for at least the next four years. Vote for the TBOU candidates to the convention.To learn more about all the work Take Back Our Union(TBOU) is doing around HealthCare ,Housing , Social Justice Issues and much much more go to www.takebackourunion.org -- Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Truth About the Sale of TWU Local 100's Union Hall
What Are The Facts About The Building Sale?
The current leadership of this union attempted to sell the union hall two weeks before the expiration of our contract in 2005. Prior to their attempt to sell, Toussaint and Ed Watt were strongly advised by the Local 100 Executive Board committee established to look at the building sale issue, that the deal didn’t make sense.
On December 3rd, 2006, several elected Maintenance of Way officers, including John Samuelsen (at the time, he was the acting VP), issued a public statement to Toussaint urging him to delay the sale of the building until after the contract fight - and subsequent strike - was over. Samuelsen, and another elected Track Division officer were immediately fired for taking that position.
In the summer of 2008, John Samuelsen, exercising rights under federal law, demanded to review documents related to the sale and resale, of our Union Hall. Contrary to the current leadership's assertions that there was nothing wrong with the building sale, the deal was riddled with problems:
*Three dummy corporations were established for the purposes of purchasing our Union Hall. Still to this day, the names of the owners of those corporations have not been fully revealed. Why such secrecy?
*The whereabouts of the cash assets resulting from the union hall sale were never revealed to the union’s executive board, nor to the members of this union. As a result of the review it was revealed that the money from the sale was invested in a mysterious corporation called Land of America. It was not, as Tate and Toussaint allege, initially invested in Treasury Bonds.
*The investment in Land of America Corp was done in order to avoid Local 100 from having to pay the capital gains tax on the profit made from the building sale.
*Due to complete fiscal incompetence on the part of Ed Watt, (Toussaint’s right hand man and Tate’s Adviser) the Land of America scheme failed and WE had to pay 8 million dollars in capital gains tax to the federal government.*Toussaint claimed that he got top dollar for the building when he sold it for 60 million dollars. It was sold at the height of the Manhattan real estate market.
*A little more then a year later, the secret owners of the building "flipped " it for 90 million dollars, making a quick 30 million dollar profit on our Union Hall. The 90 million dollar sale was accomplished in a much weaker real estate market.
Today, we are paying rent on a building which we once owned. We went from earning millions of dollars in rent to paying millions dollars in rent. Yet,the current leadership insists that the sale of the building was great for Local 100. Vote the Take Back Our Union Slate for more info go to www.tbou2009.org - Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100
The current leadership of this union attempted to sell the union hall two weeks before the expiration of our contract in 2005. Prior to their attempt to sell, Toussaint and Ed Watt were strongly advised by the Local 100 Executive Board committee established to look at the building sale issue, that the deal didn’t make sense.
On December 3rd, 2006, several elected Maintenance of Way officers, including John Samuelsen (at the time, he was the acting VP), issued a public statement to Toussaint urging him to delay the sale of the building until after the contract fight - and subsequent strike - was over. Samuelsen, and another elected Track Division officer were immediately fired for taking that position.
In the summer of 2008, John Samuelsen, exercising rights under federal law, demanded to review documents related to the sale and resale, of our Union Hall. Contrary to the current leadership's assertions that there was nothing wrong with the building sale, the deal was riddled with problems:
*Three dummy corporations were established for the purposes of purchasing our Union Hall. Still to this day, the names of the owners of those corporations have not been fully revealed. Why such secrecy?
*The whereabouts of the cash assets resulting from the union hall sale were never revealed to the union’s executive board, nor to the members of this union. As a result of the review it was revealed that the money from the sale was invested in a mysterious corporation called Land of America. It was not, as Tate and Toussaint allege, initially invested in Treasury Bonds.
*The investment in Land of America Corp was done in order to avoid Local 100 from having to pay the capital gains tax on the profit made from the building sale.
*Due to complete fiscal incompetence on the part of Ed Watt, (Toussaint’s right hand man and Tate’s Adviser) the Land of America scheme failed and WE had to pay 8 million dollars in capital gains tax to the federal government.*Toussaint claimed that he got top dollar for the building when he sold it for 60 million dollars. It was sold at the height of the Manhattan real estate market.
*A little more then a year later, the secret owners of the building "flipped " it for 90 million dollars, making a quick 30 million dollar profit on our Union Hall. The 90 million dollar sale was accomplished in a much weaker real estate market.
Today, we are paying rent on a building which we once owned. We went from earning millions of dollars in rent to paying millions dollars in rent. Yet,the current leadership insists that the sale of the building was great for Local 100. Vote the Take Back Our Union Slate for more info go to www.tbou2009.org - Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100
Take Back Our Union (TBOU) Update -Gains or Losses? By Steve Downs
In his May 29 “Message”, Roger Toussaint sums up the accomplishments of his presidency and calls on members to support Curtis Tate and his slate to carry on that work. While Toussaint, Tate and UI have tried to deny the contribution that TBOU supporters have made to defending and strengthening our union, TBOU has never denied that our union won some gains during Toussaint’s presidency.There have been gains under every Local 100 president. Even Damaso Seda (winning a 25/55 pension) and Willie James (reducing the pension contribution) made some progress. But, what every transit worker must ask themselves, whether about Seda, James, or Toussaint, is -- which is greater, the gains or the losses?
Toussaint highlights the Childcare and Training and Upgrade Funds. These are gains for the membership. But in the same contract that won those funds, Toussaint gave up the no lay-off clause, increased medical co-pays, and accepted a one-year wage freeze. That is a recurring loss that Local 100 members will feel every hour they work. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?Toussaint claims there has been a rapid fall in the number of disciplinary cases. In 2002, he promised that new contract language would eliminate 70% of disciplinary cases. There were more write-ups in 2004 than there had been in 2002. While there has been a decrease in write-ups in the last two years, Toussaint gave the TA the right to discipline people for “chronic absenteeism” – even when they are covered by doctor’s lines. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?Since 2001, the Local has created a Safety Dept. that conducts regular safety inspections and provides Safety Reps at night. During the same time, Toussaint allowed the stewards’ program to wither, squandering the enthusiasm and commitment of almost 1000 trained stewards. Now, after over three years with no stewards’ classes, the Local is training 25 stewards. Running true to form, critics of Toussaint are excluded. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
Toussaint’s claim that, “More than 10,000 members a year take part in Union events, at the Hall and elsewhere.” should be taken with a few grains of salt. It includes members at Family Day and a lot of double counting at other events. Members socializing at union-sponsored events is a good thing. But attendance at division meetings is down; thousands of members have been shown that their votes on contracts don’t matter; hundreds of stewards have stopped being active; members in Maintenance of Way and MTA Bus were denied the right to elect their VPs when the positions became vacant; and, close to half the membership is in bad-standing. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
It’s true that the Local, “prevented the imposition of a new, inferior pension tier.” But a 30/62 pension for new hires was already off the table before Toussaint called the strike in 2005. Then, instead of striking for things the members were ready to fight for (higher wages, improved benefits, better schedules, better treatment, etc.), Toussaint allowed the TA to define the issues in the strike. The strike was poorly prepared and led. Based on comments he made to members at the contract meetings in the Bronx and Brooklyn, it’s clear that Toussaint called the strike primarily to make it easier to sell the givebacks in it to the membership. The result? The 1.5% deduction for basic healthcare; fines against the union and its members; giving up the Dec. 15 contract expiration date; and, the union agreeing not to strike in the future. Toussaint’s refusal to recognize the membership’s rejection of the contract increased the numbers who refused to pay their dues. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
If you think the gains during Toussaint’s administration are greater than the losses, you’ll probably vote for the Toussaint/Tate/Watt UI slate. If you acknowledge the gains, but recognize that the losses have been greater, cast your vote for the Take Back Our Union slate.--
Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100 to stay informed visited www.tbou.org daily
Toussaint highlights the Childcare and Training and Upgrade Funds. These are gains for the membership. But in the same contract that won those funds, Toussaint gave up the no lay-off clause, increased medical co-pays, and accepted a one-year wage freeze. That is a recurring loss that Local 100 members will feel every hour they work. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?Toussaint claims there has been a rapid fall in the number of disciplinary cases. In 2002, he promised that new contract language would eliminate 70% of disciplinary cases. There were more write-ups in 2004 than there had been in 2002. While there has been a decrease in write-ups in the last two years, Toussaint gave the TA the right to discipline people for “chronic absenteeism” – even when they are covered by doctor’s lines. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?Since 2001, the Local has created a Safety Dept. that conducts regular safety inspections and provides Safety Reps at night. During the same time, Toussaint allowed the stewards’ program to wither, squandering the enthusiasm and commitment of almost 1000 trained stewards. Now, after over three years with no stewards’ classes, the Local is training 25 stewards. Running true to form, critics of Toussaint are excluded. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
Toussaint’s claim that, “More than 10,000 members a year take part in Union events, at the Hall and elsewhere.” should be taken with a few grains of salt. It includes members at Family Day and a lot of double counting at other events. Members socializing at union-sponsored events is a good thing. But attendance at division meetings is down; thousands of members have been shown that their votes on contracts don’t matter; hundreds of stewards have stopped being active; members in Maintenance of Way and MTA Bus were denied the right to elect their VPs when the positions became vacant; and, close to half the membership is in bad-standing. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
It’s true that the Local, “prevented the imposition of a new, inferior pension tier.” But a 30/62 pension for new hires was already off the table before Toussaint called the strike in 2005. Then, instead of striking for things the members were ready to fight for (higher wages, improved benefits, better schedules, better treatment, etc.), Toussaint allowed the TA to define the issues in the strike. The strike was poorly prepared and led. Based on comments he made to members at the contract meetings in the Bronx and Brooklyn, it’s clear that Toussaint called the strike primarily to make it easier to sell the givebacks in it to the membership. The result? The 1.5% deduction for basic healthcare; fines against the union and its members; giving up the Dec. 15 contract expiration date; and, the union agreeing not to strike in the future. Toussaint’s refusal to recognize the membership’s rejection of the contract increased the numbers who refused to pay their dues. Which is greater, the gains or the losses?
If you think the gains during Toussaint’s administration are greater than the losses, you’ll probably vote for the Toussaint/Tate/Watt UI slate. If you acknowledge the gains, but recognize that the losses have been greater, cast your vote for the Take Back Our Union slate.--
Steve Downs Chair, T/O Division of TWU 100 to stay informed visited www.tbou.org daily
Saturday, May 30, 2009
TOP TEN REASONS TO VOTE THE TAKE BACK OUR UNION (TBOU) SLATE
TOP 10 Reasons to Vote for Take Back Our Union We believe with the right leadership Local 100 can be rebuilt into a strong, powerful union capable of getting good contracts and protecting our jobs, wages, benefits and condition:
1) Stop the Givebacks
2) Restore No Layoffs clause to the contract
3) Fully protect seniority
4) Members not arbitrators should decide our contracts
5) Full 10 % night shift differential
6) Free Healthcare - eliminate the 1.5 % Toussaint Tax, capping it is not enough
7) Improve the dental plan
8) A universal MTA pass including LIRR and Metro North
9) Get everybody to pay their dues arrears
10)Fully Represent the workers at MTA Bus, Mile Square, Royal Coach, Ardsley, First Transit and at every private company.
The Take Back Our Union slate believes the strength of the union is derived from an organized rank and file membership which stands together to defend their livelihoods, and a union leadership which is determined to lead and protect them.We believe Roger Toussaint and Curtis Tate's policy of being soft on management has failed Local 100.
They brought us the 1.5 % Toussaint Tax, the disappearance of an assertive union presence on our jobs, and attacks against our working conditions in every department.Their abandonment of real trade unionism has landed us in binding arbitration with the very real potential of massive givebacks including the expansion of One Person Train Operation and a seniority busting regional bus agreement.
Take Back Our Union believes in real trade unionism. We are dedicated to taking the steps necessary to rebuilding Local 100. We are determined to break the cycle of givebacks and win real gains at the bargaining table.
Vote for Change - Vote for Take Back Our Union (TBOU)You can visit our campaign website at http://www.tbou2009.org.
1) Stop the Givebacks
2) Restore No Layoffs clause to the contract
3) Fully protect seniority
4) Members not arbitrators should decide our contracts
5) Full 10 % night shift differential
6) Free Healthcare - eliminate the 1.5 % Toussaint Tax, capping it is not enough
7) Improve the dental plan
8) A universal MTA pass including LIRR and Metro North
9) Get everybody to pay their dues arrears
10)Fully Represent the workers at MTA Bus, Mile Square, Royal Coach, Ardsley, First Transit and at every private company.
The Take Back Our Union slate believes the strength of the union is derived from an organized rank and file membership which stands together to defend their livelihoods, and a union leadership which is determined to lead and protect them.We believe Roger Toussaint and Curtis Tate's policy of being soft on management has failed Local 100.
They brought us the 1.5 % Toussaint Tax, the disappearance of an assertive union presence on our jobs, and attacks against our working conditions in every department.Their abandonment of real trade unionism has landed us in binding arbitration with the very real potential of massive givebacks including the expansion of One Person Train Operation and a seniority busting regional bus agreement.
Take Back Our Union believes in real trade unionism. We are dedicated to taking the steps necessary to rebuilding Local 100. We are determined to break the cycle of givebacks and win real gains at the bargaining table.
Vote for Change - Vote for Take Back Our Union (TBOU)You can visit our campaign website at http://www.tbou2009.org.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
TBOU Action Alert-Taking Back Public Transit Monday June 8, 2009
RightRides for Women's Safety is a founding member of New Yorkers for Safe Transit - the only coalition dedicated to eliminating sexual assault and hate violence, particularly gender- or discrimination-based, within NYC’s public transit system. The coalition is urging the MTA to take greater responsibility to increase riders' safety by implementing better protocols to address violence, by training employees to be appropriate first responders, by installing upgraded or repairing broken emergency equipment, and by pursuing related policy changes.Take Back Our Union (TBOU) is fully aware of the danger and violence that takes place on our mass transit system and looks forward to working with community groups and riders to make mass transit more safe.
Please join us for this important safety forum and help spread the word!
Taking Back Public Transit: Confronting Violence on Board
DATE: Monday, June 8th, 2009
TIME: 7 PM – 9PM LOCATION: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (btwn. Bank & Bethune)
COST: Free, donations appreciated
View Map
Please join us for this important safety forum and help spread the word!
Taking Back Public Transit: Confronting Violence on Board
DATE: Monday, June 8th, 2009
TIME: 7 PM – 9PM LOCATION: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (btwn. Bank & Bethune)
COST: Free, donations appreciated
View Map
Stella D'Oro March and Rally -Take Back Our Union(TBOU) & Healthcare-Now & Private Health Insurance Must Go! Saturday May 30 Bronx NY
Day of Action in New York City -May 30 , 2009
TWO EVENTS
Healthcare-NOW! and Private Health Insurance Must Go! are marching in solidarity with the Stella D’Oro Factory Workers. Stella D’Oro workers have been on strike for over 9 months against the Wall St. private equity firm Brynwood Partners, which is now viciously trying to bust the union by slashing wages, pensions, holidays, and sick pay.
Brynwood is operating the plant with strikebreakers. The strikers are represented by Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. They are on the picket line every day in front of the Stella D’Oro plant, W. 237th St. & Broadway in the Bronx.
When: May 30th NOONWhere: MASS RALLY AT STELLA D’ORO FACTORY! 237 ST./BROADWAY12 noon–Assemble across from the Target Mall on West 225 St., east of Broadway (#1 train to 225 St.).1pm (approximately)
March up Broadway to the Factory (about 1/2 mile)2pm (approximately) MASS RALLY at the Stella D’Oro Factory on 237 St. & Broadway.(#1 TRAIN TO 238ST.)
EVENING VIGIL May 30th
Please join the Private Health Insurance Must Go! Coalition, Healthcare-NOW! and ACT-UP: 8pm at the south end of Union Square / 14th Street (”near the steps”)
Bring single payer signs and candles if you can, but most of all please bring yourself and a friend.
Contact: Katie Robbins - info@healthcare-now.org for more details
TWO EVENTS
Healthcare-NOW! and Private Health Insurance Must Go! are marching in solidarity with the Stella D’Oro Factory Workers. Stella D’Oro workers have been on strike for over 9 months against the Wall St. private equity firm Brynwood Partners, which is now viciously trying to bust the union by slashing wages, pensions, holidays, and sick pay.
Brynwood is operating the plant with strikebreakers. The strikers are represented by Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. They are on the picket line every day in front of the Stella D’Oro plant, W. 237th St. & Broadway in the Bronx.
When: May 30th NOONWhere: MASS RALLY AT STELLA D’ORO FACTORY! 237 ST./BROADWAY12 noon–Assemble across from the Target Mall on West 225 St., east of Broadway (#1 train to 225 St.).1pm (approximately)
March up Broadway to the Factory (about 1/2 mile)2pm (approximately) MASS RALLY at the Stella D’Oro Factory on 237 St. & Broadway.(#1 TRAIN TO 238ST.)
EVENING VIGIL May 30th
Please join the Private Health Insurance Must Go! Coalition, Healthcare-NOW! and ACT-UP: 8pm at the south end of Union Square / 14th Street (”near the steps”)
Bring single payer signs and candles if you can, but most of all please bring yourself and a friend.
Contact: Katie Robbins - info@healthcare-now.org for more details
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