Transport Workers Union of America

Muni Workers Want Bigger Bonuses for Night Shifts

​In January, SF Weekly published a cover story on the $70 million per year San Francisco spends on "premium pay" -- bonuses offered to employees for doing certain types of work. Because such pay requires no extra work and is often seemingly redundant with job descriptions -- firefighters, for ... More >>

Muni Fare Evaders Are Responsible for Budget Crisis

Muni wants riders to pay their fair share​Today, the Examiner tells us about how Muni riders are still blatantly skipping out on paying their bus fare, which is costing the transit agency some $19 million in lost revenue. And to put that number into context, Muni's budget deficit this year is a st ... More >>

Fix Muni Now Prop. G Will Lead to Fewer Pee Breaks, Driver's Union Claims

The charter amendment backed by San Francisco Supervisor Sean Elsbernd to end the guarantee that Muni drivers earn the second-highest wages in the nation could have some pretty far-reaching repercussions.For one, said Irwin Lum, president of Transportation Workers Union Local 250-A,Expect to see mo ... More >>

Bell-Ringing Boycott More Terrible PR For Muni Union

Rick DikemanNo bells, no whistles​Leadership of the Transportation Workers Union, it seems, inadvertently read the Dale Carnegie tome How to Win Friends and Influence People backwards -- and constantly endeavor lose friends and alienate people. Just when you think the Muni Drivers' union couldn't ... More >>

Muni Employee Cashes In With 'Fix Muni Now' Commercial

Lights, camera, action​The "Fix Muni Now" campaign -- whose Proposition G is reviled among Muni employees -- brought in a highly paid hired gun this weekend: A Muni employee, counter-intuitively. The campaign filmed its first TV spot at a bus stop on Church and 20th. Per Muni bylaws, an agency emp ... More >>

Muni 'Sickout' Flier's Bold Threats

Jim HerdThis bus is suffering. Will Muni drivers be, too? ​You may have read a bit about an anonymous flier urging Muni drivers to call in sick and not show up to work on Sept. 13 through Sept. 17. The Transportation Workers Union denies responsibility, and it's not yet clear whether this is all a ... More >>

Muni Union Seeks Injunction Against Restoring Service Cuts

The Muni drivers' union's attempts at PR have been ... a train wreck​An internal Transportation Workers Union document obtained by SF Weekly contributor Greg Dewar reveals that the union will be seeking injunctive relief against Muni's plan to partially undo May's service cuts this Saturday.You ca ... More >>

Free Parking On Way Out for Muni, City Workers

​A broke city offering a small army of municipal employees free parking is a situation it appears will cease to exist in December. Muni workers were informed earlier this month in a memo by Municipal Transportation Agency director Nat Ford that, come the 12th month of the year, they'll have to she ... More >>

Muni Drivers Set to Receive $8 Million in Raises

Your driver ought to be cheery today​In a development that figures to play about as well as whipping out a boom box at a funeral, Muni drivers are set to receive millions in raises in the wake of a finalized city budget balanced by a quarter of a billion dollars in union give-backs. The folks ridi ... More >>

Can Anything Stop 'Fix Muni Now'?

​Supervisor Sean Elsbernd yesterday turned in his trove of signatures for the "Fix Muni Now" petition, which will almost certainly qualify the transit reform measure for the ballot. And once it's on the ballot, it's hard to foresee a scenario in which the measure would lose -- as the supervisor wa ... More >>

Muni Finds Way To Halve Service Cuts -- Even Without Union Concessions

​The plan to soften the blow of Muni's 10-percent service cuts -- that last month appeared as hopeless as catching a timely late night bus after the drivers' union spurned give-backs -- has apparently been resurrected. In a deal brokered by the mayor's office with the San Francisco Municipal Trans ... More >>

Muni Drivers' Union Agrees to Givebacks. Will Union Members Approve?

N-Judah Chronicles/Lauren Oliver -- Used with PermissionIs there a light at the end of Muni's tunnel? Or is that another train? ​The Transit Workers Union Local 250 -- truly the pinata of both progressives, moderates, and everyone else -- has reached a tentative agreement for givebacks, reports th ... More >>

Is Progressive Supes' Muni Amendment Just a Bargaining Chit?

Like this old train, many elements of yesterday's sweeping Muni charter amendment were things we've seen before...​The Charter Amendment yesterday introduced by a quartet of progressive supervisors would essentially tear apart the way the Municipal Transportation Agency is run and sew it back toge ... More >>

City Audit Slams Muni Labor, Management

N-Judah Chronicles/Lauren Oliver -- Used with PermissionPlenty of fail to go around...​City's Budget Analyst Harvey Rose released "part one" of a performance audit of Muni today. And, guess what? Muni drivers' self-serving work rules cost the city millions. The agency is drowning in overtime, acco ... More >>

Marching Muni Drivers Overwhelm 'March Against Muni'

All Photos | Joe EskenaziMarch Against Muni organizer Jared Roussel looks on as Muni Drivers' union boss Irwin Lum snatches away his bullhorn and addresses the crowd​"March Against Muni," the odd amalgam of largely young, hip people deeply incensed at rude Muni drivers, paper Fast Passes, and ... More >>

Tangling With Muni Union Helped Make Mayor Frank Jordan Into Ex-Mayor Jordan

A number of work rules that may have made sense when this bus was new are still in Muni's union contract...​As many folks steaming on Muni know, the drivers' union last week spurned concessions that would have saved the city some $15 million -- while accepting city charter-mandated raises for $8 m ... More >>

Muni May Lay Off 170 Operators on Friday

Jim Herd​Muni spokesman Judson True has confirmed a rumor disseminated by the Muni Drivers' union: 170 operators -- and 230 Muni employees -- will be facing layoffs after Friday's Municipal Transportation Agency Board meeting. "At the Friday meeting, service reductions will be voted on. If the boa ... More >>

Muni Union Boss Says He'll Ask Drivers to Reconsider Spurning Concessions

Jim HerdYou may have figured out that this is the image we use whenever Muni drops the ball. It gets used a lot. ​If you're a Muni passenger, this has been the winter of your discontent. And, according to Irwin Lum, president of the Muni drivers' union, many of you have been taking out your frustr ... More >>

D'oh! Labor-Backed Pension 'Reform' Would Cost City Millions More Than Earlier Estimate.

​On Wednesday, we reported how a pension reform bill intending to save the city money was affixed with a union-crafted amendment that would actually cost San Francisco more than $13 million annually.The notion of pension reform actually costing the city more in both the short- and long-term is bad ... More >>

Will City Manage to *Lose* Money on Pension 'Reform'?

It's like gaining weight on a diet...​You'd think even San Francisco wouldn't manage to formulate a "solution" for pension reform that actually costs millions more in both the long-run and short-run. Right? Right? Well -- apparently not. We've written a bit about Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and his p ... More >>

Et Tu Elsbernd? Supe Apparently Latest To Enter Jackie Speier Sweepstakes.

When Sean Elsbernd had this photo taken, he ostensibly wasn't interested in running for higher office. Now he is. Also, watch out for that truck. ​The Chronicle's Marisa Lagos has done a bang-up job handicapping the myriad political possibilities that could result if Rep. Jackie Speier leaves Cong ... More >>

Who Will Be Thrown Under the Bus? Supe, Muni Union Up Ante in Duel.

Lo, what's this on my seat? Ah, a polemic! ​Muni riders yesterday may have discovered something unexpected on their seats -- no, not that. Thousands of pamphlets penned by Transportation Workers Union president Irwin Lum decrying Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and a recent article written about him in t ... More >>

Muni Drivers' Union Head Rips Pending Service Cuts

Jim HerdEnd of the line​As you may have heard via every newspaper, blog, TV station, and town crier in the realm, Muni is planning drastic service reductions as of tomorrow. Yes, you'll pay more and get less. But you don't have to like it. Irwin Lum sure doesn't. The head of the Transportation Wor ... More >>

Muggings and Beatings on the Bus, Oh My! Bevan Dufty Plays Wizard of Muni

Jim Herd​The winners of the Top-3 Most Dangerous Muni Routes are: the 14-Mission, the 9X-San Bruno Express, and the 38-Geary. In that order.But be not afraid: Supervisor Bevan Dufty is on it (or so he'd like you to think). The supervisor from the Castro continued to hone what is shaping up to be h ... More >>

Departed Muni Driver's Tragic Last Ride

​On the morning of July 23, Rene Lee Ing told his wife he was heading to work and left his Richmond District home -- a typical morning for the veteran Muni driver with two decades experience behind the wheel. But the 56-year-old Ing didn't go to work, and never would again. Instead of heading to t ... More >>

Muni Drivers: Thefts of Jackets, Other Possessions Happen All the Time

'Hey, that's my jacket...'​We reported last week on a series of incidents in which miscreants vandalizing Muni vehicles on Mission and Silver distracted the drivers -- who returned to their seats to find that someone had stolen their jackets. Muni spokesman Judson True said that any news of theft ... More >>

New Cool Thing For Kids to Do: Steal Muni Drivers' Paraphernalia

Muni drivers have been giving customers the shirts off their backs of late -- really The aggressive brown coloring of Muni operators' uniforms always conjured up scenarios of dueling designers battling to see whether UPS or the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority could more authori ... More >>

Muni Union Head: Early Switch to Manual Power In Train Tunnel, Fingered for Weekend Crash, an 'Understood Practice' Among Drivers, Management

Jim HerdA pair of culprits have emerged as the potential causes for the weekend's nasty Muni crash at West Portal station: Sources within Muni have told the media that the veteran driver reported he blacked out -- which wouldn't have been a problem if the driver didn't shift his train from automatic ... More >>

Letters to the Editor

Week of August 13, 2003

Death, Maiming, Money, and Muni

The enormous costs -- human and financial -- of bad drivers and lax discipline at the San Francisco Municipal Railway

Former Pimp Laid Low

Muni union official suspended over racy book on whoremongering past; sexual harassment alleged

Muni's Mack Daddy

James Robinson used to be a pimp. Now he's a transit union bigwig. And he's got higher ambitions.

Cothran

Letters

Rewarding Failure

What's really wrong with Muni? For starters, one third of its employees don't show up to work, causing systemwide delays and costing the agency more that $20 million a year in overtime. First in a two-part special report

Cothran

Ringmaster Willie

Although Mayor Brown's opening acts have impressed, he's also allowed more than a few rogue elephants under his Big Top. We begin our stampede watch.

Letters

Willie's Wild Ride

The Transport Workers Union contract with Muni is up for renewal, and TWU boss Larry Martin says that anybody who wants to roll back the union's cush work rules, lucrative salary structure, and handsome trust fund is a "racist" and can go to hell. Meet t

Paper Trails