Brooklyn NY—TWU Local 100 celebrated Italian-American heritage in Coney Island on Friday ct 17th, and honored one officer for the 20 years of service he has devoted to the organization: Danny D’Amato, Vice President of the MTA Bus/PrivateLines/School Bus Department and a member of the TWU International Executive Board.
The annual event took place at Gargiulo’s, which opened in 1904—only a few years before the first subway rolled out of City Hall. Opening the festive evening, MaBSTOA Division Chair Sean Battaglia said that “when you combine Italian culture with union culture, it’s an unstoppable force.” And that force, he said, is because of Local 100’s diversity – “every culture, every race and every gender. That tells you what this union is all about.”
Every year, an outstanding union member is honored at the event. The award plaque, presented to D’Amato by President John V. Chiarello, read: “With gratitude for your dedicated service and proud celebration of Italian heritage, your loyalty and leadership have strengthened our Union and inspired generations.”
On receiving the honor, D’Amato said: “I’m really honored to have this award. Italians are about family, about respect, about faith, and I’m all about that. And I try to instill that in my guys who I try to mentor on the way. I love everybody–and thank you.”
President Chiarello addressed the crowd, namechecking Italian greats including Amerigo Vespucci, the Florentine explorer for whom our country is named, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio. He then turned to the upcoming MTA contract, and to MTA CEO Janno Lieber, “an anti-union chairman,” who “is already crying about money being taken away from the MTA by the federal government,” using that as a pretext to withhold funds from labor agreements.
“I don’t want to hear that,” Chiarello said. “You have the funding. Don’t play games with our members. Go into the seat cushions and you’ll find a few extra hundred million. We run this system, we move New York, and we deserve a fair and honest contract.”
International President John Samuelsen, introduced by Chiarello, commended Local 100 for how hard its reps work and then blasted both political parties for not standing up for workers.
We can’t trust Democrats or Republicans; the only thing we can trust is ourselves, and the only institution in America that exists solely to advance the cause of working people is the trade union movement,” he said. “When we get into this fight with the MTA, it will depend on everyone in this room, locking arms.”
Samuelsen also attacked management’s longstanding bargaining demands for part-time workers, contracting out Station Department work, and getting rid of Conductors on the trains.
Between the great dinner and dessert plates, President Emeritus Tony Utano and Battaglia conducted a poll to satisfy a burning question they have been debating for years—whether the classic pasta topping is called sauce or gravy. With 299 votes counted, Sauce was the choice of 78%, with Gravy a poor second best at 21%.
