TWU Local 100 today ramped up its campaign for a fair contract with a powerful new advertisement running on television and being distributed widely on social media. The 30-second piece features photos of transit workers doing a range of duties to ensure New Yorkers get to their jobs, homes and other destinations safely – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“You’ve heard ‘it’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it,’ ” the video’s narrator states. “Well, that somebody is the Transport Workers Union here in New York City. Whether it’s blizzard, blackout or bomb scare, they get out and do their jobs so you can get to yours. Still, every 36 hours a transit worker is assaulted on the job, and chances are pretty good while you’re rushing to work a transit worker is receiving medical attention. They deserve a fair increase for their dedication to the dangerous work they do.”
The video also features still photographs of transit workers who were brutally assaulted while serving the riding public – including photos the MTA refused to post in its system, making the bogus claim that workers demanding raises is “political.” The television ad is the latest “six-figure” installment in Local 100’s multi-pronged campaign to secure raises greater than the 2% budgeted by the MTA.
“We want the public to know that we are proud of the service we provide, but also that these are not easy jobs,” TWU Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “They are physically and mentally stressful. They are dirty and dangerous. Too-often, they are straight-up deadly. Transit workers, and their families, deserve for this reality to be recognized in their paychecks. We are turning up the heat, and will continue to escalate our fight, until that happens.”
Last week, 10 privately-owned buses wrapped with an ad featuring transit workers who were brutally beaten while serving the riding public began looping through Manhattan – passing MTA headquarters dozens of times a day. The wrapped-buses mimic the ad the MTA rejected for its bus and subway system. TWU Local 100 has slapped the MTA with a federal lawsuit for violating the First Amendment and the rock-solid American right to free speech. Local 100 also is running radio ads in the NYC area.