Please join tour guides, Occupy Wall St, and faith leaders to tell
Speaker Christine Quinn not to sacrifice living wage jobs of the
99% for the profit of the 1%! Sign our petition http://tinyurl.com/keepnyclive and rally with us on the steps of City Hall Monday December 19th at 10am.
I am one of at least two hundred members of Transport Worker's
Union Local 225 who may be jobless soon for no reason other than
corporate greed. We are the sight seeing tour guides who offer
live narrations, answer questions, prevent injuries, and otherwise
assist passengers on the big red Gray Line double-decker sight
seeing busess you may have noticed around NYC. Our employer, Twin
America (which reported a profit of about $20 million last year),
is threatening to fire us and replace us with automated
narrations. We are calling on the City Council to amend city code
to require live, licensed sightseeing guides on NYC bus tours. We
believe mandating the live guide standard is reasonable way the
city should insure quality and consumer protection for guests to
our city. Our Legal experts and our supporters on city council
agree, but Speaker Quinn's office has been blocking our efforts,
while refusing to publicly explain why.
So on Monday December 19th, while our union leadership meets with
Gray Line management, for a final scheduled negotiation, we will
gather at city hall. We will gather to expose the greed and abuse
of the illegal monopoly which controls double decker sightseeing
in NYC. We will gather to ask Speaker Quinn to decide which side
she's on: The side of living wage jobs for the 99% or the side of
profits for the 1%? We ask supporters to please participate in
ways that re-inforce our message. Suggested talking points
include:
-Real Guides for a Real City
-Experienced Tour Guides Save Lives*
-Stop Corporate Greed/Save Living Wage Jobs
-Haven't We Lost Enough Jobs Already?
-Keep NYC Live/Keep Living Wage Jobs
We request that these talking points be the basis for signs,
chants, interviews, and human microphone messages, etc at the
rally. The rally will begin with a formal press conference. Please
arrive early to pass through security. The number of people that
will be allowed onto City Hall steps may be restricted. But,
others may gather in solidarity behind the fence or in City Hall
Park.
I am not an official of TWU 225, so I cannot officially speak for
the Union. You can reach Bob Murphy my shop steward directly at Shadowgraph at hotmail.com, or a union negotiator, James Muessig, at jamesmuessig at aol.com
Thank you for your support. Please forward this invite to any
lists you can. Rally and petition endorsed by Occupy Wall St Labor
Outreach Committee.
In Solidarity,
Marcos E de Jesús
http://www.facebook.com/LiveGuidesNYC
http://tinyurl.com/keepnyclive
*Double decker bus rides may be especially hazardous in NYC where
overhanging street lights, signs, branches, etc. often pass within
inches of passengers heads. The best defense against passenger
injury and death on double decker busses is the experienced, live
licensed guide, who knows when to warn about every possible
hazard, in every possible circumstance of weather, roa d/overhead
conditions etc.
Experienced, licensed guides do, in fact, save lives.
PS-Links for more information
NY Times coverage of Twin America’s monopoly: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/tour-bus-post-to-sked-for-7am/
A direct link to the Surface Transportation Board’s denial of the legality of Twin America’s joint venture: http://www.scribd.com/doc/48833851/Surface-Transportation-Board-NYC-Tour-Bus-Decision
News coverage of Real Live Guides for NYC: http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2011/nov/29/tour-guides-protest-possible-replacement-audio-recordings/ http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/151652/tour-bus-guides-rally-at-city-hall-to-save-their-jobs