Letters to the Editor
TWU Pressing Safety Issues

To the Editor:

Transport Workers Union Local 100 is in mourning for two dead members. We have 12,000 living workers moving about the tracks for whom we need better, more meaningful protection. The readers of The Chief have sadly been shown some of our destructive internal infighting (May 18 letters). They are better served with a brief review of what Local 100 has been doing to improve track safety for our members and the millions of New Yorkers who ride the subways every day.

Some facts:

- There was a 4-1/2-day Safety Stand-Down on the tracks, the longest one ever. Before we concluded the Stand-Down, I met with more than 60 Maintenance of Way (MoW) officers and representatives to brief them and to get their input.

- The Safety Stand-Down will be followed by a moratorium where more restrictive rules will be followed. A labor/management task force will be convened to report back on rules and procedural changes, along with recommendations involving safety training and equipment. The task force is charged with addressing any aspects of NYC Transit culture that contribute to accidents and fatalities.

- For the first time, TWU Local 100 is represented on the Boards of Inquiry looking into the two deaths.

- We had been working with representatives from the Spitzer administration about track safety regulations months before these two recent fatalities. And I have been meeting with the new administration at New York City Transit and the MTA about such regulations. With changes in Albany and at the MTA, there is more openness to stronger regulations on the tracks for our members.

- Track Safety was a centerpiece of our 2007 Lobby Day in Albany in April. More than 800 members carried the message that we need stronger regulation on the tracks since our mass transit system is exempt from Federal safety guidelines.

- Employer-paid release-time positions for track safety officers have been occupied by elected Track Safety officers throughout my administration.

- Under my leadership as chairman of the Track Safety Committee from 1995 to 2000, the number of dedicated night-time representatives was doubled. In fact, I personally led the work on the night tour. I was the first chairman to do so.

- I established, for the first time, a Night Operations Team within Local 100 that included employer-paid release time representatives who were augmented by local-wide safety officers and staff. The thousands of members who work at night now have access to their union.

- During this time, the number of facility and job-site inspections has more than doubled.

It is fitting and proper that the new Transit leadership is working with us on safety. There has been a long history of distrust, and it is often easier to simply scream at management and call them names.

Let us be very clear. Local 100 expects real results that increase protection for every member who works on the tracks. That's the reason we are working with NYC Transit - to make the tracks safer. We continue to press for enforceable track safety standards for the same reason.

I continue to meet with top management, including NYC Transit President Howard Roberts, to stress our safety concerns in the several areas, including: communications; flagging rules, especially on adjacent tracks; alerter warning systems; measures to protect against noise obstructions; equipment; and training needs. Our goal in all of these meetings is to push for heightened safety measures and awareness throughout NYC Transit, from the tracks to middle management right up to the executive offices.

We are taking a close look at the enunciation/alerter devices that are currently being tested. These tests started months ago, under the previous NYC Transit management. They put them on a slow track. President Roberts has put the testing on a fast track. If the devices work, emergency procurement procedures are called for. Local 100 is not going to stop in the middle of the effort. We believe we owe it to the memory of Boggs, Franklin and all those who have fallen over the years to come out of these sad days with stronger safety protections and an increased capacity to enforce them, with stronger structures dedicated to keeping us safe on the job.

Mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living. We are mourning. We must have safety in deeds, not just in words. Safety rules and procedures must have real meaning and must be given real life. No member has to follow instructions that could mean not coming home to their family. Faced with imminent danger, you should not do it today and grieve it tomorrow. There might not be a tomorrow.

Every union member's first responsibility is to get home safe and to get your brothers and sisters home safe.

ROGER TOUSSAINT, President, TWU Local 100