TWU blasts city for putting handcuffed Occupy Wall Street protesters on buses (union going to court)

[kpete]

Source: New York Daily News

TWU blasts city for putting handcuffed Occupy Wall Street protesters on buses

BY PETE DONOHUE, EMILY SHER AND HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Monday, October 3rd 2011, 4:00 AM

The Transport Workers Union will go to court Monday to try to stop the city from forcing bus drivers to transport Wall Street protesters arrested by the NYPD, the Daily News has learned.

The union, whose leaders voted last week to support the protesters, said police brass commandeered three MTA buses to transport many of the 700 demonstrators arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday.

Union President John Samuelsen called ordering bus drivers to drive prisoners "a blatant act of political retaliation."

......................

"TWU Local 100 supports the protesters on Wall Street and takes great offense that the mayor and NYPD have ordered operators to transport citizens who were exercising their constitutional right to protest - and shouldn't have been arrested in the first place," Samuelsen said Sunday night.








Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/10/03/2011-10-03_twu_blasts_city.html#ixzz1ZjUsdFkv

---

"Our mission is to provide transit service to the riding public, not transport people who were arrested," he said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/10/03/2011-10-03_twu_blasts_city.html#ixzz1ZjX09Ztj
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/03/1022324/-Bus-drivers-forced-to-transport-arrested-Wall-Street-protesters;-union-going-to-court-to-stop-it?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. hell, YES, this movement is growing.

I don't care whether the Teabaggers notice and realize that it is in their interests to listen to us. I don't care what Bloomberg does or threatens.

I DO care whether the White House realizes just how deep the anger runs, and that if Obama stays in bed with the Banksters, he loses.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Would they prefer that the police use non-union labor to drive the buses?

[Demit]

4. Do you feel like you've caught the union out in some sort of inconsistency?

They support the Occupy Wall Street action. If you were in sympathy with a group, would you want to be forced into helping to oppress them?

[JackRiddler]

15. So clever, right?

Awesome!

[lunatica]

30. Actually that's exactly what they should do

Sorry, I meant to respond to poster #2

[saras]

7. No, silly, they'd prefer that the people not be arrested and the buses not used.

[Ikonoklast]

10. They are not trained in the safe transport of prisoners.

Would you like to be held personally liable for something you have no specific training or experience in doing?

How about the city, if something happens with one of the detainees, who gets sued?

The driver, knowing that he had no training to safely control a vehicle full of handcuffed prisoners, but did it under duress?

How would you like the police to force you to do something you were in no way trained to do, leaving questions of liability in your lap?

[Roy Rolling]

13. Really?

Are you that clueless to miss the meaning of the report? This has nothing to do with the issue of union/non-union. But your statement does make me think---I think you are clueless. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you aren't a paid shit-stirrer.

[JackRiddler]

14. Probably not. But your sig line indicates you would prefer non-union labor for everything.

[tblue37]

20. You mean SCABS! All boycottss risk the involvement of

scabs, but that doesn't mean that boycotts are not worthwhile.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Arctic Dave]

23. Maybe you would like to volunteer to do it.

You will have to find a shirt that is earthy in tone and some tall dark boots as to not hurt your feet if you kick someone.

[NashVegas]

31. Which Side Are You On?

[madrchsod]

45. his side....

[EFerrari]

37. Do you think those buses are insured to transport handcuffed prisoners?

NY could have a lawsuit on its hands.

[JDPriestly]

39. For clarification, buses don't have seatbelts. Why I do not know.

But they don't, so when the bus lurches, people sometimes fall. If your hands are cuffed, especially if they are cuffed behind your back, you can't grab one of the bars on the bus to hold onto. That is why it is more dangerous to ride a bus with handcuffs than to be in some other forms of transportation.

[EFerrari]

41. Yep. They also don't have attendants to take care of people.

When you think about it, it's a pretty dangerous thing to do.

[JDPriestly]

38. If the arrests are really all that important and worthwhile, the police

should use their black-and-whites or their police buses to transport their prisoners.
lic
Fact is the "prisoners" are not a danger to anyone. They aren't doing anything wrong, and if they are, so long as there is no violence, the police should just ticket them and tell them to come to court.

The police have wasted an enormous amount of the city's funds on policing non-violent protestors, most of whom are under 35 and law-abiding.

The protest is gaining momentum and support, and the police are losing both.

There is a video on YouTube which shows the protestors proceeding down the pedestrian part of the Brooklyn bridge and the police coming along and directing the protestors onto the street part of the bridge. The police are going to receive a deluge of protest and condemnation when people see that video. It is a shocking display of police misconduct.

[lob1]

48. It's an old police trick. During Viet Nam, we protested LBJ

when he made an appearance at Century City, Ca. We had a parade permit to march, but the march couldn't stop. The police blocked our way, then said we violated our permit by stopping. Then they attacked the protestors.

[MadLinguist]

49. the NYPD should be prepared to transport the en masse arrestees

If they don't have the planning and resources to carry out their ambitious plans, they should have to face the consequences, just like the rest of us have to face the consequences of insufficient resources. I mean would the NYPD be agreeable to allow any of their vehicles be put to use when the MTA budget couldn't afford to purchase needed buses?

[RetroLounge]

44. Real clever, ain't you?

:puke:

RL

[Ken Burch]

51. Finding some way to use THIS for unionbashing?

How utterly unsurprising from you, Freddie.

What the TWU is doing here is in the tradition of the ILWU refusing to load cargo that was going to aid and abet the enemies of working people in other countries.

[rhett o rick]

54. Another hit and run post eh Freddie? nm

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

58. The Blue

Douche strikes again.

[Kingofalldems]

59. Some responses were taken down.

That's all I can say.

[catbyte]

57. Make the freaking police drive their own paddy wagons. What's your point?

[rhett o rick]

63. He has his head up his Foxhole. nm

[rhett o rick]

64. Why dont we ever see you in these types of threads?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2051955&mesg_id=2057420

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

66. Because those are harder to troll?

:shrug:

[rhett o rick]

67. He is all business. nm

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

68. But oh so "clever" (he seems to think). nt

[rhett o rick]

70. Clever enough not to get TS'd. nm

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

71. Indeed. nt

[Tom Ripley]

72. Scabs?

[SoapBox]

3. The Police State is out of control.

...the People of America need to take back their rights from the
DICTATORS that have implemented law after law against us.

Do we need "laws"? Absolutely. But when those laws begin to be turned against the vast
majority of Americans by those that want to run the whole country...time for more change.

A big thumbs up to everyone that is taking a stand.

[tcaudilllg]

6. Looks like Bloomberg is on a one-way ticket to prison

[JDPriestly]

40. Have you seen that video of the police leading the protestors

off the pedestrian walk and onto the street on the Brooklyn bridge? Please check it out. It's on YouTube.

[tcaudilllg]

62. Yes I have. We need to find out who came up with the idea.

[Kurovski]

5. 99% isn't hyperbole, it's reality.

K&R

[defendandprotect]

8. Amazing creativity of Bloomberg and Kelly -- !!!! New Yorkers should dump both of them!!

[LiberalFighter]

11. Kelly needs to lose his taxpayer paid pension too.

[hootinholler]

9. Next time take the load back to the park. n/t

[Gore1FL]

55. YES! n/t

[Renew Deal]

12. I don't think it's retaliation.

I think they did what was convenient. I wonder if that's legal. I would be pretty uncomfortable being a public bus driver driving a bush full of prisoners, even if it's peaceful protesters.

As far as the tweet, pharmacists have to fill birth control prescriptions.

[elleng]

16. LOVE IT! REAL solidarity!

[Historic NY]

17. Let the police use their own damn buses.

[AsahinaKimi]

18. K&R

for sure.

[DaveJ]

19. If police think their jobs are secure they're mistaken

In order to create job security they are creating criminals out of decent upstanding people, but if the good guys ever win, crime will go way down. I've been to other much poorer countries that were incredibly peaceful, and never saw a cop anywhere because they were not a greedy cesspools like the traders and their cops make it here. Nevertheless, we will still need bus drivers.

[aquart]

21. I love it when their policies bite their asses.

[Cool Logic]

24. As the Transport Workers Union endeavors to shoot themselves in the foot....

I am compelled to inquire as to the status of the NYPD.

Are they not unionized as well?

[The Doctor.]

65. Oh, it's you.

I think there's a pm I should get to one of these days. I'm in no hurry.

Question; just how are they 'shooting themselves in the foot'?

[DireStrike]

25. I wish they wouldn't go through the courts.

It is a weak maneuver, making this all but an empty show of solidarity.

On the other hand, it IS a solid show of solidarity. I have to thank the TWU for it. And to be honest, the movement as a whole is too unfocused to justify them defying court and police orders.

As much as I hate to admit it, this is probably as far as it makes sense for the TWU to go at this stage. I am just a bit antsy with the molasses-gummed workings of "pragmatism". Sometimes, it takes bold actions to drive bold action.

[On the Road]

53. Going Through the Courts is Weak?

On the contrary, it not only shows seriousness and strength, it's possibly the only way get certain ends.

How else do you force the police to behave themselves? Mainstream media and national political figures are not touching this issue. But if a judge rules against the NYPD, they will have to behave themselves.

Without support of the courts, politicians, media, or opinion leaders, the protests themselves are not going anywhere. Union support finally introduces a national player into the equation.

[Eric J in MN]

26. When the cops crammed protesters

...into vans, a week ago Saturday, they were painfully hot.

Maybe buses are more humane.

[DireStrike]

27. Maybe so, but that's no reason to make it easy for the cops.

By all means, hit 'em with double standards and demands that are impossible to meet. It seems that we are nimble and media-savvy enough to get away with it.

[EFerrari]

36. Sounds dangerous to me.

Of course, they had no need to arrest anyone in the first place.

[PETRUS]

28. !!!!! :) nt

[benld74]

29. BAM! BAM!

[socialist_n_TN]

32. I would take more militant action and refuse to

allow the union drivers to drive the busses. Then if they used scabs, I'd try to disrupt the scab drivers. And maybe not "officially" through the union (legal sanctions and fines might accrue), but in a "wildcat" style.

And just remember anything done in support of the working class against the owners WILL BE ILLEGAL. If they want their list of abuses rectified, the actions they'll have to take to do so will be illegal. That's the way the system is set up.

[Hotler]

33. Police and sheriffs departments

usually have their own buses to transport prisoners. NYPD can use their own buses or, use some of that payola from J.P. Morgan to buy some.

[Enthusiast]

34. Kicked and recommended!

I like the birth control tweet.

[lovuian]

35. the Unions Rock the Protesters Rock Power to the People

as the Police work to arrest and process and transport and feed prisoners who will be let go
the prisons are full in America the Courts are overworked already
just add thousands to the system

which will overload and destroy the syatem

As the amount of money spent to protect the banksters and anger builds up on people protesting as their rights of assembly are being obstructed

POWER TO THE PEOPLE
RIGHT ON!!!

[unionworks]

42. To The Wall Street 700

This is a cover of an old Graham Nash song that was written for the Chicago '68 protests. Change the lyrics from "Chicago" to "Wall Street" and it is timeless as ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM8-y9juVLs

[Kingofalldems]

43. Kick this one to the top

[Uncle Joe]

46. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[JournalistKev87]

47. NIIIIIIIICE!

Well done; we'll see where this goes!

[Guilded Lilly]

50. I love this. Plain and simple.

[DeSwiss]

52. K&R n/t

[No Elephants]

56. K & R. And fuck all those who disdain protestors and/or unions.

I have such a hard time telling the difference between the New Left and the New Right.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

61. Thank you! nt

[Starry Messenger]

60. k&r

[Kingofalldems]

69. One more time to the top.