Where Thoughts and Wisdom Unite!
With a projected completed roll out of the MTA’s new contactless fare payment system — OMNY by 2023 and the MTA’s 2019-2022 Financial Plan calling for booth reductions throughout the system; grim, bleak and uncertain are the words describing the sentiment many of the rank and file members within the Department of Subways – Stations Department are feeling about their […]
What is diesel exhaust? Diesel is a type of fuel derived from crude oil. Diesel fuel is used in most large engines, including those used in many trucks, buses, trains, construction and farm equipment, generators, ships, and in some cars.
Throughout the Summer of 2019, depot management in the Department of Buses began posting a “policy” (pictured below) at various depot locations outlining a new requirement for submitting a doctor’s note upon returning from each instance of FMLA. The policy, written on a New York City Transit letterhead requires that employees who utilize intermittent leave under FMLA for themselves must […]
As a result of an emotionally fired decision at an emergency MTA Board meeting, the MTA inked a $36 million contract with Kronos, Inc. to install biometric time clocks throughout the agency. Due to its demoralizing nature, transit workers in all departments have expressed serious opposition against the biometric clocks as this new procedure requires an employee to scan their […]
One of the mainstays of haunted houses is exhibits that include dead human bodies. There is a reason why haunted houses rely on fake dead bodies to scare patrons: human beings have a strong reaction when they are confronted with human remains. This response is significantly more profound if a person has the unfortunate experience of finding a dead body.
As you may know, we at Progressive Action challenged the conduct of the 2018 TWU Local 100 elections. We did this on the basis that many people did not receive a ballot, while also receiving campaign literature from the Stand United slate, who currently occupies many elected union offices including the presidency and thus controls the balloting procedures.
I remember when I spoke to RTO VP Eric Loegel back in January and he was telling me it’s nothing the union can do regarding the MTA putting cameras in our operating cabs because the National Transportation Safety Board recommended it after an accident on another railroad.
On July 9th, 2019, RTO Executive Board member, Evangeline Byars released an Executive Board report with an update regarding the status of our current contract’s negotiation. Within the 29 minute clip floating around the Facebook social media platform, Ms. Byars revealed that the Local President, Anthony Utano did not in fact demand a particular percentage in wage increases but instead […]
As part of the Fast Forward: Plan to Modernize New York City Transit initiative, The MTA released the Bronx Bus Network Redesign Draft Plan late Friday afternoon. The plan includes measures to speed up and provide more reliable bus service in The Bronx. The cost for this plan to work will be more than money, it will be at the […]
On May 24th, 2019 many transit workers learned that NYCT had appointed a new FMLA administrator. This new company, WorkPartners will take over many of the duties performed by the BSC. Once fully live, WorkPartners will handle the processing of all new and open FMLA applications, answering any FMLA related questions and handle all FMLA leave requests, employees will no […]
Don’t be fooled by all of the media coverage. The MTA is far from broke. The NY Post recently published an article talking about how we need to giveback to the MTA by contributing more to our medical. In 2018 the MTA put together a proposed budget for 2019-2021. Within that budget, the MTA is banking on the union to accept 2% raises for each year to meet their expectations. In order to push this agenda, they have published a series of bogus financial plans that are far from their true financial position. Looking at the most recent financial statement it actually turns out that the MTA has a net worth of $4.748 BILLION dollars, even after factoring in ALL […]
NYS Department of Labor Building 12 W.A. Harriman Campus Albany, NY 12240 April 22, 2019 Dear Commissioner Reardon, Hi, I am Benjamin Valdes and I am a train operator with New York City Transit. The MTA puts train crews’ health and safety on the back burner and attempt to justify their actions with the excuse that they are just […]
Hi, I’m Ben Valdes and I am running for train operator chair on the Progressive Action slate with Tramell Thompson who is running for president of TWU Local 100. I think it’s pretty clear to any train crew member that the MTA doesn’t care at all about our health and safety. While they have no moral obligation to care about […]
Hi, I’m Ben Valdes and I am running for train operator chair on the Progressive Action slate with Tramell Thompson who is running for president of TWU Local 100. In Andy Byford’s plan to rescue the subway he stated that something bold must be done; little tweaks here and there aren’t going to cut it. The same goes for my […]
Summary Background Long working hours might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, but prospective evidence is scarce, imprecise, and mostly limited to coronary heart disease. We aimed to assess long working hours as a risk factor for incident coronary heart disease and stroke. Methods We identified published studies through a systematic review of PubMed and Embase from inception to Aug […]
The MTA recently had two female employees pass away while giving birth. One a Bus Operator and the other one of the first female elevator mechanics. Extremely rare and odd that this would happen two times 1 month apart and who knows if there are anymore that we aren’t aware of. Could the nature of these jobs be a contributing […]
