There was an incident that happened on January 14, 2011. Where a woman was smoking inside of a B35 bus on Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn. Other passengers were complaining about this woman smoking. This woman appears to be mentally unstable she does not adhere to the bus operator as well as other fellow passengers requests to extinguish the cigarette she kept smoking. The law is clear that there is NO SMOKING in the bus. Clearly she violated that law.
Mayor Bloomberg says that smoking is unhealthy as well and numerous laws have been enacted. Especially in the confines of a bus where there are other passengers who will be exposed to secondhand smoke. This bus operator was trying to get this woman to stop smoking but she would not listen therefore he proceeded to shove her out of the bus. His intention of getting her to stop was good but the way that he handled the situation was not.
We are only human and as humans we are bound to make mistakes. Therefore this bus operator should be given the opportunity to work with the MTA not as a bus operator that deals with customers but in some other area. If this bus operator gets fired, or demoted to such an extent that he is forced to quit then John Samuelsen president of TWU Local 100 did not fight to protect this member. This member had horrible behavior and should be penalized but not fired.
Another issue that occurred was that a bus driver was caught with a cellphone and was immediately fired. This driver under New York State law should not be using his cellphone while driving a bus. This driver clearly violated the law, however he should not lose his job due to that. He should instead be heavily penalized for not following the law. John Samuelsen as president should do what is best for his membership even if they commit acts as the above. He should stand by these bus operators not for what they have done but by keeping them as members of TWU Local 100. They should still be apart of the MTA but not with the same titles as they had. They messed up and should be demoted to different titles as a result of that.
Clearly you should read the MTA rules and regulations about ejecting a passenger. How biased of YOU a person who aspires to high Union office to judge a fellow bus driver on rules violations. And to judge that he should be removed from his job.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame.
Thank God there are Union reps who do not give up on a member like you do. For your penalty you must re-do shop steward training, because clearly you do not know the proper way to defend a member.
I am surpirsed at you.