New York, NY – Mario Bucceri is the President of The United Transit Leadership Organization (UTLO). The UTLO represents collective bargaining units within the New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority, representing Deputy Superintendents, Superintendents, and Assistant General Superintendents within the MTA Department of Buses, Department of Subways, Department of Support Services and in the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA).
He started as a Bus Cleaner at the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority (MABSTOA), working his way up with grit and, at times taking overnight shifts in Supervisory positions requiring interminable commutes. But he stuck with it, one of the reasons perhaps being the influence of his father and grandfather, who were both bus operators. Bucceri chose a different yet related path, on the maintenance side.
His energy, focus, and involvement in not only his various positions over the years, but his commitment to change for his fellow workers, led to him being a founding member of the UTLO.
LaborPress was privileged to have a chance to learn much more to share with our readers about this remarkable man, whose drive and passion made a wide range of crucial changes possible.
LP: What inspired you to join the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) in 1982 and work your way up over the years?
MB: I started in the transit at the age of 20 years old as a bus maintenance cleaner. I noticed that the mechanics, supervisors and managers were very inspirational in teaching me the anatomy of the bus. The bus maintainers took a liking to me and led me to move up in the company, by giving me the experience and the knowledge of bus maintenance.
LP: Can you share a bit about your background? Did you come from a union family?
MB: My father and grandfather were bus operators, and they strongly encouraged me to get a job working for the department of buses, which is a city job with good health benefits, pension and a decent salary and job security. My father was a bus operator and a member of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 shop steward. He would bring me to work, and I would accompany him and ride the bus while he was driving. He put up with abuse and would come home after eggs and garbage had been thrown at him. He even got hit with a bottle one time. I wasn’t interested in being a bus operator, so I decided to work on the maintenance side of the Department of Buses. I started as a Cleaner at the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority. I did everything I was asked and was taken under their wings by many mechanics who taught me the parts of the bus, even quizzing me. This was solely-on-the-job training. This interested me because I always wanted to move up in the company. Now my son works for the Transit in the Department of Subways. He started as a track worker, moved up to track inspector and he is now presently on the list for track supervisor. He is on the job for nine years. As a child he watched me go to work and I too told him it would be a great idea to work for the transit.
LP: You worked your way up from Cleaner in MABSTOA all the way to President of UTLO. What were some lessons you learned along the way that contributed to your ultimate position of leadership today?
MB: The fact that people trusted me, and I did well as a Cleaner, made opportunities come my way. For example, I was asked to be a shop steward for the Cleaners. I would seek volunteers for overtime, based on seniority. I was then a mechanic’s helper, followed by bus maintainer. In these titles I was represented by Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU). I was then promoted to Maintenance Supervisor and represented by the Transit Supervisors Organization. As a Supervisor, I performed inspections, supervised unscheduled repairs, and monitored the fuel station. I interviewed for the Deputy Superintendent job and was promoted to that position and was assigned to Staten Island Yukon Bus Depot to work the midnight shift. There my job duties and responsibilities consisted of running the entire midnight shift supervising the maintenance supervisors and bus maintainers, helpers and cleaners. My responsibility was to provide safe clean operable buses into customer service.
I worked in several locations so I got to know many of the managers and many people who would become managers in MABSTOA and in the New York City Transit Authority. I was in Walnut and 100th Street as a Cleaner. As a helper, I was at Coliseum Depot (now called West Farms). As a Bus Maintainer I was at Walnut Depot. As a Supervisor, I was at Coliseum and at 100th Street Depot (now called Tuskegee). When I interviewed for Deputy Superintendent, all the highest-ranking officials were present. My boss at the time told me that I passed the interview and would be assigned to the Yukon Depot in Staten Island. I was living in the Bronx at the time, but I very much wanted to keep moving up, so I not only took that position but accepted the midnight shift. It was a very difficult commute, then I was transferred to 146th Street Depot (now called Mother Clara Hale) in Manhattan. While there, I was promoted to Superintendent and was assigned to Gun Hill Depot. I went for an interview and I was promoted to Assistant General Superintendent of maintenance at the same location, Gun Hill Depot. After that, I was promoted to General Superintendent of Maintenance, my current title, and was assigned to the Jamaica Depot.
LP: Please share with us the most important aspects of your observation of the disparities between managerial and represented supervisory titles; how also did the NYCT fail to provide what was due to managers. How did the corporate structure work against them?
MB: The basic problem was that the Authority liked to call us managers but never treated us like we were. When we demanded rights that represented employees had, like overtime or pick rights, Transit Executives accused us of not wanting to be managers. When we didn’t demand these rights, we suffered furloughs, went seven years without general wage increases, and had to reapply and reinterview for our own managerial positions under the threat of being excessed and forced to take positions elsewhere. We were also subject to a managerial performance review process that was used to routinely deny us general wage increases. Additionally, our grievances were ignored, promotions were made on a completely arbitrary basis, and discipline was issued without thought and without fair consideration. Managers at the Authorities face horrific compromises in ordering their private lives. They are promised fixed tours of duty but in practice those tours are ignored, and the managers are faced with uncompensated overtime. They are promised a fixed days of the week schedule but are consistently called while off duty and required to report to work on what should be their days off. These issues were ignored for decades prior to achieving representation. Now, we are never ignored. I was determined that only a true labor union would enable managers to cure these disparities and secure the respect, fair treatment, and fair compensation consistent with their role as managers in the largest transportation system in the world.
LP: When was the UTLO formed? How did the MTA fight this formation?
MB: UTLO was formed in 2015. I am a founding father and came up with the name United Transit Leadership Organization. Along with an energetic and devoted group of fellow managers in the various agencies under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority umbrella, formed the United Transit Leadership Organization to serve as the labor union for MTA managers. In spite of the MTA’s costly and time-consuming legal objections which required numerous hearings before the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, we fought for three years at PERB to secure legal certification as the collective bargaining representative for Deputy Superintendents, Superintendents, and Assistant General Superintendents at the New York City Transit Authority, MABSTOA, MTA Bus Company, MTA Headquarters and, later, the Staten Island Railroad. The MTA fought us tooth and nail, hiring an extreme high priced law firm, to oppose us at PERB. But, after putting on all their witnesses in an effort prove that we were managerial or confidential employees and not entitled under the Taylor Law to union representation, settled the case in a manner that gave us the vast majority of the employees we sought.
LP: UTLO members number over 900 managerial employees. How were you able to achieve this historic accomplishment – the first time that MTA managers have secured union representation and collective bargaining? What has been gained from these bargaining sessions?
MB: Solidarity matters. The initial 450 employees we organized in the buses division were united and patient. Our meetings were very well attended during the long PERB process, and our members wore their union shirts, hats and union buttons on the job. They could not be frightened or intimidated. This translated, I believe, into the Authorities’ being willing to settle with us. We also received support from two very important sources. The first was our attorneys at Isaacs Devasia Castro & Wien, LLP who represented us during the entire PERB process. The second, the Subway Surface Supervisors Association, provided an enormous of support and guidance during this process. Without these supporters, I don’t know if we’d be where we are today. After those initial 450 pioneers we were able to add about 500 Division of Subways managers and managers at SIRTOA without much of a fight. This is an historical accomplishment constituting the first time that MTA managers have secured union representation and collective bargaining.
As to bargaining we have secured improved pay and benefits. As I said earlier, before representation, we’d gone seven years without a raise. With representation we’ve received raises every year since 2018. Prior to representation, we had not received an adjustment in the compression floors (the minimum salary for each salary grade). We received multiple increases in the compression floors since 2020. Without representation, discipline was 100% in the discretion of the employer and there was no way to pursue claims that the Authorities had violated their own rules. With representation, we have binding arbitration of contract disputes (which includes violation of the Authority’s rules) and binding arbitration of disciplinary matters. These are only examples and the tip of the iceberg.
LP: What do you consider UTLO’s stand-out victories under your leadership, along with other members of your team?
MB: The compression floor increases, and arbitration and grievance procedures are things that I am particularly proud of considering how long managers had to wait for these improvements. Also, our recent expansion of compensatory time for our members, who do not receive overtime pay, has enabled our members to better order their personal lives. We have saved more jobs through our disciplinary process and our excellent results at arbitration than we can count, and reduced penalties are now the norm rather than the exception. Again, this is just the tip of iceberg. I was determined that only a true labor union would enable managers to cure these disparities and to secure the respect, fair treatment and fair compensation consistent with their role as managers in the largest transportation system in the world.
LP: What do you see for the future for the UTLO? What would you like to achieve?
MB: We are looking to expand outside the MTA and into other regions. Not a week goes by when I don’t hear from transit managers around the country about their on-the-job issues, which are often identical to those suffered by our members. I would love to help each and every one of them. Being in the Transit and serving my members as their Union President is in my DNA and my legacy.
