Week in Review Jan 16th to Jan 22 2022

A New York City Transit department of bus tweet caught my attention, where it was said that due to service interruptions, the MTA is running as much service as they can with the Bus Operators they have available, then there was a follow up tweet that stated that because of our dispatchers staffing adjustments that were made to run a trip that was previously canceled, NYCT would now run the trips. The tragedy of these tweets are twofold 1. The tweet targets Bus Operators for the bad or interrupted service and 2. The tweet mentioned that thanks to the dispatchers staffing adjustments, trips will be done. My sarcastic question is who do you think is doing those trips? You guessed it Bus Operators! And how is the Bus Operators doing these trips mentioned? You guessed it again voluntary Overtime. So the fact that the trips were made was because a bus operator decided to volunteer and make those trips! Let’s not attempt to confuse the public, Covid has gotten our operators sick and the irony of the MTA’s messaging is opposite of the reality and even dangerous to our employees! Take the uptick in assaults as a serious example Week in Review January 16th to the 22nd 2022 @TWULocal100 Officers from @mtamabstoa were sworn in by @TWULocal100 President Tony Utano. The day’s festivities didn’t stop there as Senior officers created a robust training session for the new officers Training consisted on how to deal with Management, Grievance & Discipline; Workers Compensation; and the various office procedures that has to be learned by a new officer. Senior Officers encouraged questions even beyond the classroom.

MaBstoa Division1 Editorial

January 2022 Editorial by Donald Yates Greetings Brothers and Sisters: It’s been a long time since I have written a publication. One of the reasons I decided to go back to writing newsletters is because of the mis information that’s on social media, particularly Facebook. There is wave coming that needs to be addressed with the truth. We can all have opinions when it comes to a situation especially in our union. The one thing that I hold dear is truthful information whether it benefits me or not. One of the things that’s hard to ascertain is the facts of the past. Receipts are described as something of fact, but I can definitely tell all of you that there are several receipts or no receipts , neither means a definitive truth. The media in our country is much of the same that occurs in our union. Everyone has an opinion, but which opinion is truth?

Week In Review Jan 27 to Jan 31 2020

Week In Review January 27th To January 31st 2020 Mon January 27th 2020 I reported to Michael J. Quill Depot to address pending issues in my office including members who have had medical billing issues and Assault pay 💰 issues. Later that day I met with the Vice President and the Divisional Chairs from the Bronx and MaBStoa maintenance to discuss the underlying issue with the electric bus Tuesday January 28th 2020 I reported to Michael J. Quill to address Operators bypassed on the Dispatchers list and spoke to Labor relations about some pending grievances. I left at about 8:30am and went to Zerega to meet with the Chief maintenance officers and our Union over the concerns of the Electric bus 🚎 the attendees was Richard Davis Thomas Lenane Mike Rehn Donald Yates Claude Marshal Tim Harrell Sean Battaglia and Earl Philips. From NYCT Senior VP department of buses Craig Cipriano Vito Sicolo Frank Anacarol Benny Serrano and Clarence Howard. That meeting lasted to about 12:00. I then met with the Chief Officer of Safety and Training to discuss a DWI case that didn’t go thru the traditional process, and to also discuss a member from MJQ who was being held off the bus for an accident. All went positive. 1:30 Had a Chairmans meeting at MCH we’re various strategic plannings was the topic Wednesday January 29, 2020 Started my day in Traffic Checking; went over some cases were one struck me as peculiar because there was a customer complaint over failure to assist. The complaint involved opening the gate for a customer who hadn’t paid yet. Went over the grievance and Discipline process with the Chair of the department. Left and went to theUnion Hall for our monthly Executive Board meeting to go over when the raises and the retro would be issued, also to discuss financial reports charging members who allegedly violated the bylaws and constitution. We went over the Financial report from the last quarter and voted on Contracts from the school bus 🚌 industry and a me too for staff analyst for MTABus January 30th 2020 Started and ended my day at MJQ. Worked in the office to complete pending tasks. January 31, 2020 Started my day at Manhattanville Depot where I spoke to the members about the information on the MaBstoa FB page and went in the office to work on folders I saved electronically so my office can be carried with me. The day was finish by attending the surprise retirement party for Barry Roberts

What does unity look like

Good morning everyone; Many of us speak of unity. I asked in a couple of videos what does unity look like? It doesn’t mean everyone looks the same, talks the same or thinks the same, it means however that because we believe the same gospel, in this case we believe that unions make a difference so getting unified over that belief is what unity looks like. Not how others support an issue or don’t support an issue. Unity clearly needs to be worked on!!!!! Social media bullying is not unity and will only spawn distain!

Contract Ratification Vote Tallies Jan 9, 2020

Contract Ratified! Contract Tallies by Department Total 15319 Mabstoa Divison 1- 787. Yes-601 No-186 MaBSTOA Divison 2- 857. Yes-629 No-225 MaBSTOA Maintenance-737. Yes-651. No-86 MTA Bus - 911. Yes-661. No-249 TA Surface- 1238. Yes-872. No-371 TA Maintenance- 455. Yes-378. No-76 Tower Operators- 117. Yes-47. No-69 Train Operators- 1478. Yes-539. No-940 Car Maintenance- 1927. Yes-1300. No-635 Conductors -1154. Yes-389. No-771 Power - 493. Yes-415. No-77 Stations -1840. Yes-945. No-888 Track - 748. Yes-474. No-311 Structure - 964. Yes- 868. No-93 Line Equipment - 1542. Yes-1343. No-199 Actual Totals: Yes- 10112 No- 5176

Personal Truth; Political Truth; Objective Truth

One of the great challenges in this world is to know enough about a subject to think you’re right; but not enough about the subject to know you’re wrong. I talk about many union issues probably in the millions There’re 3 category’s of truths; personal truth, political truth and the Objective truth that shape our understanding of the universe. The interesting thing about the Objective truth is it’s true no matter what! Imagine that! Be equipped to turn data into information, information into knowledge, knowledge into wisdom. We all have susceptibility to Bias. Search engines on the internet are the Epitome of conformation bias and you are going to use that as evidence that you’re correct? No! The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it. What does it mean to be skeptical? What does it mean to be convinced by data? A proper skeptic questions what they’re unsure of but recognizes when valid evidence is presented to change there mind. I will equip you to not only find objective truths but communicate to others how to get there. It’s not good enough to be right you also have to be effective. The less connected you are to what is objectively true the less likely you will be able to make decisions that would benefit your life, the life of your family and even civilization itself

FaceBook Live 12-29-19 Youtube link

https://youtu.be/9-cEBBMLVJo