To my transit brothers and sisters:

Taylor Law was passed in 1967 to make striking for public employees illegal. All of us that work for New York City Transit are affected by that law. If we had the power to vote for a strike when the contract negotiations are not yielding the results that we desperately need the management would be forced to take our demands seriously. You can look at recent contracts negotiated by UPS, UAW and Association of American Railroads. Each of those Unions either voted to authorize a strike or went on strike. As a result record contracts were negotiated benefitting the workers. 

Right now we have an opportunity to demand that bill S5785 can be added to the agenda to the meeting taking place on February 27th 2024 in the Civil Service and Pension Committee. All that’s required is 10 minutes of your time. Here’s what you can do to help us secure a better future:

1. Robert Jackson is the committee chair of the civil service and pension committee. Call his office in Albany 518-455-2041 or the office in his district 212-544-0173. And say the following: Hi my name is ______ I’m a New York transit employee and I want Mr. Jackson to add bill S5785 to the agenda. We went last March to Albany to lobby for this bill and we want to see it passed now! 
   
   
2. Find out who your state senator is by clicking on the link https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator call them have your family or significant other call them and tell them to support bill S5785!
3. Sign this petition! Share it with your co workers share it with your family! 
   
   
4. If you are able attend the Lobby Day on March 20th. You will be able to go see your state senator in person and Lobby them to support this bill. 
   
   

I will be posting updates on the progress so please check back for updates. 

To provide some history on what happened so far. Last year the main focus of Lobby day was to pass this amendment. After attending and lobbying our state senators to pass the bill I was told by a clerk from Robert Jackson’s office that someone in state senate leadership removed the bill from the agenda. To be clear whoever that person was they report to the State Senate speaker Andrea Steward-Cousins. When I contacted her office I was given a name and an e-mail address but that person never replied. So I decided to wait until the legislative session started again to bring this bill up and to lobby our elected officials to pass it. 

Please make sure you are registered to vote:

https://vote.nyc/page/register-vote

We should be only be supporting politicians that have our back and pass legislation that benefits our health safety and we are fairly compensated for our labor. 

Thank you and check back for any updates. 

Image by <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/hand-drawn-labor-union-logo-design_51757607.htm#query=labor%20union&position=15&from_view=keyword&track=ais&uuid=9d3aac75-df7f-4582-af3c-c2a5fb49fb14">Freepik</a>