Rowdiness in surface

On Tuesday May 15, 2012 during the Surface Department - transportation side their monthly meeting went out of order, despite numerous calls for order that went unheeded by those who acted like children in high school due to the criticism that was directed towards the vice president of surface Mr. Stephan Thomas. He should have addressed that criticism whether valid or not. However his silence was unclear but it led and fanned the flames of emotions that went awry. We’ve never witnessed an unfounded uprising of such proportions, it did not take a brain surgeon to realize that the onslaught was well trained. Those who shouted at each other were wrong, it was intolerable behavior as far as it concerns our TWU Local 100.

Those who could not try to calm down and behave like adults seemed like they did not have self restraint. It was incomprehensible that if it was beyond them then they should have left the room since we could have continued the monthly meeting and managed without them. That was intolerable behavior and it was disgraceful that every member of the surface - transportation were not able to behave properly. We expect the leadership to be role models not to be egged on by the raw emotions that could have led to physical altercations. What if there was physical contact NYPD & EMS would have been called and probably those fighters would have lost their jobs. Based on that our leadership was wrong.

Thanks to those who had the calmer heads that tried to separate the combatants and mediate their differences by reminding them that we are not in high school grounds. Shame on those who egged on others and those who stood on the sidelines. It also reflected poorly on the Surface Department as a whole. Why can't we generate that hostility or anger and direct it towards the management (we can solve many issues - such as missing swing rooms, faulty equipment,etc) rather than towards our own? We can't figure that one out.

We are also concerned about this unacceptable behavior, we hope from our 

TWU Local 100 president John Samuelsen that he will address it as well as order and conduct an investigation. Specifically looking at first, into what took place, second, the reasons and failure of order, third, the lessons to be learned, fourth and finally admonish and reprimand. We also hope that the investigation be conducted by independent members from other departments and that none of the members of the surface department should have any role in that. It is regrettable that such an incident happened especially when the well being of the membership is at stake as well as their reputation, no one should be allowed to tarnish the good name and image of TWU Local 100 and get away with it.