Harold “Sonny” Hall, former President of TWU Local 100 and the International Union – and one of TWU’s most memorable and charismatic leaders – has died at the age of 89. According to his niece, Patricia, Sonny had been in failing health for some time.  He passed away in his sleep in hospice care on Jan. 13, 2022.

Sonny Hall came on the job as a Bus Cleaner at the old 146th Street Depot (now Mother Clara Hale Depot) in 1953.  At the time, the union was in the midst of its epic fight for the five-day, 40-hour work week in the private bus industry.  Sonny recalled with a chuckle, “I was way ahead of the union on that one.  I was on the four-day work week.” Unfortunately for the young transit worker, the company bosses weren’t all that amused. “I remember getting taken out of service for my poor time and attendance record.  I wasn’t sure if I would get fired, but I was sure I was going to get a long suspension,” Sonny said in that interview.

He credited union organizer Frank Gavin with saving his job.  “Frank was an old time, old fashioned union rep.  He went into the hearing with management and really fought for me.  When he emerged from the meeting he told me that I was going back to work the next day but also told me that if I kept doing what I was doing I was going to end up on the street. That cured me of my time and attendance issues.”

But ironically, the positive interaction with the union was not Sonny’s springboard to his union career. “I really wasn’t a union activist in my early years on the job,” he recalled.  “But I did like to go to union meetings to find out what was going on.” It was his good record of attending those meetings that finally got him involved.  “Our depot chair at 146th Street was retiring, and the person who was running for the job, Jimmy Hood, needed someone else on his slate.  I was one of the few people who had the required number of meetings to qualify, so Jimmy asked me if I would run with him.  That’s how it all started.”

Sonny was born January 30, 1932 in the Bronx.  His father, Harold Sr. was a Bus Operator at the 100th Street Depot (now Tuskegee Airmen Depot).  “My dad was Harold, and I didn’t particularly like being called Harold, so he started calling me ‘Sonny’ and it stuck.  I’m sure a lot of people over the years didn’t even know my real name.” Sonny served in the military as an Army MP at a nuclear facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He had enlisted in the Marines when he was 16 with his older brother’s papers, but was sent home after being discovered.

He started out with Omnibus as a cleaner and shifter and then to Bus Operator. Despite his initial reluctance to get invovled in the union, once he did his trajectory was straight up. He formed a team with his partner Jimmy Hood.  “If you were ever in trouble, Jimmy is the guy you’d want in your corner.  He was relentless. Management was never right in Jimmy’s eyes.  He would just push and push until they finally caved in.”

He served as Vice Chair at 146th Street beginning in 1964 with Hood as Chair.  “We must have done something right for the members, because we kept getting elected.” During the City-wide transit strike in 1966, Sonny was assigned to picket outside the old City jail where TWU International President Mike Quill and other union leaders were being held after their arrest for defying a court order. “I was at the press conference where Mike Quill famously told the judge to ‘drop dead in his black robes.’” He also recalls that “it was freezing cold on the picketlines.  The Police supported the strike and kept coming outside to give us coffee and donuts.  We felt like we were fighting for all public employees.”

Sonny continued his climb up the ladder.  When the union went out on its second city wide strike in 1980, he had risen to Vice President for MaBSTOA Division 1.  “I told the reporters that the Executive Board was split and we were really going to strike.  They thought we were crying wolf, but we weren’t.” As Vice President, Sonny was responsible for all contracts for the private bus companies.  He oversaw an 11-week strike against New York Bus Service in 1984.

In 1985, the Executive Board thrust Sonny into the role of President when then Local 100 President John E. Lawe moved up to TWU Interational President after the unexpected death of William G. Lindner.  For the next 9 years, he guided Local 100 through three major contracts with the MTA and numerous other agreements with the private bus lines. In 1991, he succeeded in launching Local 100’s Union Assistance Program (UAP), which he personally negotiated with then Gov. Mario Cuomo after the tragic Union Square crash on the L line that claimed five lives.  The Train Operator was arrested for being intoxicated and spent five years in jail. “Everyone hated management’s EAP because it was punitive.  I insisted that ours be competely confidential and non-disciplinary,” Sonny recalls.  “It’s my proudest achievement.  It’s helped so many transit families over the years.”

As President, he also instituted the bargaining unit protection program to preserve the union’s traditional work, and bring back in-house some of the contractor’s work.  He beefed up the union’s political department in Albany as well. In 1993, Sonny was elected TWU International President, a position he held until his retirement in 2004.  During this time, he broadened TWU’s brand nationally, and launched an aggressive buildup of the union’s political operation on Capitol Hill.

In 1998, he was elected President of the 2-million member AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, where he brought all elements of transportation labor together into its most unified political force in decades.  His influence was felt in Congress, the Federal Agencies overseeing transportation and the White House.

 Looking back on his amazing career, Sonny always begins and ends with his beloved days in the trenches fighting management with Local 100.  “I think the one thing I can point to in life is that the good Lord allowed me to be elected a union officer,” Sonny said.   “I loved every minute of it even when I was getting booed.  I miss it every single day.  I would come back in a minute. Being a union man is very important to this country.”

Sonny continued: “Was it fun, oh absolutely.  I was just a normal joe who liked to play the horses too much.  But the union gave me direction. I really enjoyed saving a worker’s job.”
Sonny’s wife of nearly 65 years, Maureen, passed away after his retirement and left a giant void in his life.   “With Maureen gone, if I didn’t have some of my union memories to look back on, I would be very lonely.  Sometimes when I can’t sleep at night, I review some incident or big fight we had in the union and will fall asleep with a smile on my face.”

Sonny always wrote his own columns for the union newspaper, and he did so with great passion. In his final message as International President to TWU members in the September 2004 edition of the TWU Express, he revealed once again the selfless dedication to the union that had always marked his career. Here’s what he said:

“One should never forget where they came from. Here in New York City, where I was born, TWU Local 100 was my life, as it was for my dad.

“I leave TWU as an active member, but will always pay dues to my Union until the day the good Lord takes me. 

“Regrets, sure I have a few, mistakes–heck, yes, but I did my very best, and I am proud of what I have accomplished and I am proud that I have respected every TWU Sister and Brother, even when we disagreed.

“This is your union; understand that it is a working person’s partnership.  One must not always take from their union, we must give of ourselves as well.”

Survivors include nieces Patricia and Suzanne; daughter-in-law Shari, and granddaughters Skyler and Colby.

There will be a Viewing on Wednesday, January 19th from 2PM to 5PM at the Riverdale on Hudson Funeral Home, 6110 Riverdale Avenue (261st Street), in the Bronx. There will be a Funeral Mass on Thursday, January 20 at St. Margaret’s RC Church at 6000 Riverdale Avenue in the Bronx at 10 AM.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law a landmark bill that would allow a family to file for death benefits through Workers Compensation for a diesel exhaust related illness.

The bill especially impacts the families of retirees, who for years have filed for death benefits due to diesel exposure through Workers Compensation only to be routinely rejected. That all changed in 2014, when Dorota Nigro, won a breakthrough lawsuit for Workers Compensation benefits after her husband, Anthony Nigro, a MaBSTOA Bus Maintainer, died of lung cancer a few months after he retired in 2012.  

This legislation recognizes the causal effects of diesel exhaust in cancer and lung related illnesses.  It allows families whose claims were rejected in past years to re-file for benefits, and of course, it provides an easier path for claims in the future.

Now, thanks to this legislative victory, a grieving family will be able to seek financial justice for the loss of their loved one. The bill, sponsored in the NYS Senate by James Sanders (D-Queens), and in the Assembly by Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Brooklyn), and is named for Anthony Nigro.

The MTA launched the COVID testing program on Monday, October 4. Testing sites will be available at various locations throughout the MTA. You will be required to test if you are not fully vaccinated for COVID and a MTA partnered (Bio Reference, Quest or Mt. Sinia) testing site is available at your work location. All testing will be done on company time.  Take home saliva test kits will also be available at the saliva testing sites. You will not be required to test on your own time or outside of work. If you are vaccinated, you will have the option to get tested.

You must, however, report your vaccination status to the employer. Directions on how to report your vaccination status can be found at the MTA Covid-19 Employee Resource Center webpage: new.mta.info/covid-19/employees

The work site locations and scheduled hours for at-work testing can also be found at the MTA Covid-19 Employee Resource Center. There will be schedules for both nasal swab and saliva testing. The schedule is updated weekly, so check the website at least once a week for the latest schedules. Information also can be obtained via the MTA Covid-19 Hotline: 646-252-1010

Yesterday, Governor Hochul announced that by October 12th state workers will have to be either vaccinated or face weekly testing. That includes both MTA and Port Authority workers. We will continue to discuss/resolve all of the issues we have already raised regarding the weekly testing program. We will also continue with the PERB charge we had filed before the “deferral” of the implementation of the Vaxx-Test Program.

After numerous meetings with management regarding the implementation of the Vaxx-Test Program without first resolving all of the concerns and questions we raised, the Union filed an improper practice charge against the MTA on Thursday, September 2nd. We meet again with the Department of Buses on Friday, September 3rd and again raised our concerns regarding the implementation of the Program and demanded that the implementation of this program be postponed until these issues are resolved. On Saturday, September 4th the MTA’s Chief Safety and Security Officer issued a bulletin announcing the postponement of the Vaxx-Testing Program.

Last week Governor Cuomo announced that MTA and Port Authority employees working in New York facilities will be required to either be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be tested weekly starting Labor Day.

Hearing that announcement, we immediately consulted with our legal counsel, the TWU International and reviewed all the recent legal decisions regarding an employer’s ability to require employees to either get vaccinated or be subjected to regular testing.  After weighing all this information, we concluded that initiating a legal challenge to the MTA’s vaccination/testing program would not delay its implementation and would ultimately fail. 

The CDC and health professionals have concluded that the most effective way to defeat the spread of the virus is to get vaccinated. However, the Union recognizes that there may be reasons an individual may choose not to.

Therefore, the best option for us is to work with management to address the many issues and formidable logistical challenges in designing and implementing a periodic routine COVID diagnostic testing protocol for the unvaccinated employees that imposes the fewest burdens while also protecting their individual rights.  We have also expressed our concerns regarding the impact the implementation of such a program may have on employee availability and our ability to effectively supervise the maintenance and transportation operations.

We will continue our ongoing discussions with management on all of these important issues and we will keep our members updated on our progress.   

I happy to report that we were able to get the MTA to move up the RWA payment date for the OA & TA Queens Supervisor to September 30th. Below is the deferral letter that was emailed to our members today.

The tentative date for the MTA Bus retro-active Wage Adjustment (RWA) payment is October 7, 2021. Members will be able to defer all or a portion of their RWA. Below is the deferral letter and form that was emailed to all MTA Bus members. We have scheduled two virtual meeting with Prudential on August 25th at 4P and September 1st at 10A to assist our members in their deferral decisions and to answer any questions you may have. Please click on the Prudential “down load” below for more information and to preregister for one of these meetings.

We are still working on the OA & TA RWA payment date. The Authority has scheduled these payments for October 28th. We are trying to get the payment date moved up. We will post any updates here.

Members will NOT be able to defer the Retro-Active $500 Lump Sum, Longevity or Maintenance Bonuses. You will be able to defer the Retro-active Wage Adjustments and Retro-active Night Differential increases to your active 401k or 457 accounts.

The $500 Lump Sum payment will be in the paycheck of August 12th for MTA Bus, and the paycheck of August 19th for the OA and TA Queens. These payments will appear as a separate line item and a separate taxable event in the 8/19 and 8/12 paychecks.

The 5% Night Differential Increase will be on the same paycheck as GWIs, MTA Bus August 12th and TA/OA August 19th.

The General Wage Increases (2.5, 2.5, 2.5) for MTA Bus supervisors will be in the paycheck of August 12th.

The General Wage Increases (2.5, 2.5) for OA and TA Queens supervisors will be in the paycheck of August 19th.

As soon as we get more information on the Retro-Active Wage Adjustments (RWA) we will post the information here.

It is with deep regret that we announce to passing of MSII Salvatore Amato. Please click on below flyer for funeral information.

This week NY State Attorneys General Letitia James released the results of her investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct by Governor Cuomo.  The findings in the report are devastating and conclusive.  The actions of the Governor were reprehensible and demeaning to women and we call on him to resign immediately.

Also mentioned in the report are two current MTA Board members, Larry Schwartz and Linda Lacewell, who aided and abetted the Governor in perpetrating this disgusting and possibility criminal behavior against these women.

We have sent a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Timothy Kennedy, asking that these two board appointees be removed from the MTA Board immediately.

Last week the Director of the CDC made it plain – 97% of new COVID-19 hospitalizations are people who are unvaccinated, making COVID-19 a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

The Delta Variant is spreading and the Union recommends that everyone get vaccinated right away.

More than 65% of eligible adults in the U.S. now vaccinated — but only 47% of our MTA Brothers and Sisters are vaccinated. More needs to be done so that we can protect ourselves and our families.

These are facts:

Vaccines are safe and effective in preventing severe illness and death from COVID-19.
Vaccines reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Vaccines are also effective against COVID-causing variants, which are spreading across the U.S.
 
Vaccines are free and easy to get these locations

MTA vaccination site at 130 Livingston St, Brooklyn (Wednesday and Thursday for employees and eligible family members)

Pop-up sites at Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal (daily)
New York; https://am-i-eligible.covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/
New Jersey: https://covid19.nj.gov/pages/vaccine
Connecticut: https://portal.ct.gov/Vaccine-Portal
In your community or county – visit Vaccines.gov to find a nearby site.

You can also reach out Transit at teamvaccine@mtahq.org and they will put you in touch with an expert who can answer your questions. Here are some additional resources.

CDC Vaccine FAQs

NYS Dept of Health

NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene

MTA Employee Resource Center

 
Get vaccinated. The life you save could be your own or that of a family member. It’s not only about fatalities. COVID-19 can produce long-lasting adverse effects after you recover from an infection.

Starting June 23, 2021, New York State Essential Workers will be eligible for $25 Million — available for Child Care Scholarships 

Eligibility
All essential workers: health care providers, law enforcement, pharmaceutical staff, firefighters, transportation workers, food delivery workers, grocery store employees, child care staff and others are eligible. (No. 202.6)
• Essential staff must work outside the home and have an income of less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level (or $79,500 for a family of four)
• More information

How to Apply
• Parents can apply for funding through an easy online application, available here
• Online applications can be submitted starting June 23, 2021 and will be processed and awarded on a rolling basis until funds are depleted

IMPORTANT NOTE: All current essential worker scholarship participants MUST reapply through this new application to continue to receive funding. CARES 3 Essential Worker Scholarship Funding will end on June 28th. You must reapply for funding to continue.

How it Works
• Funding is part of the Federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act
• Child care costs will be paid up to market rate for each region statewide; market rate information can be found here
• Child care providers will be paid directly on behalf of the parent
• Parents are responsible for any tuition amount the scholarship does not cover

Questions?

Click here for Flyer