The Transport Workers Union of America, representing more than 160,000 workers across all transport, utilities & service sectors
Washington, DC
Joined March 2009
- Tweets9.2K
- Following916
- Followers23.9K
- Likes1.7K
Pinned Tweet
The TWU fights every day for workgroups both large and small across the country, from 40 workers to 40,000 workers. We will FIGHT with every weapon we have to defend TWU livelihoods. @TwuSamuelsen
youtu.be/SDc-moM-wao
TWU retweeted
You factually incorrect. The TWU International has never endorsed @GovKathyHochul for governor nor have we donated to her campaigns for governor . Not a dime .
.@GovKathyHochul has a record on trade unions that would make a red state maga governor proud. In the last 18 months she’s scabbed three of the most significant strikes in New York State. She’s set an appallingly disgusting record by firing thousands of striking workers, and replacing them with the National Guard. She brought unlicensed out-of-state nurses to cross picket lines to try to break the NYC Nurses Strike. Hochul triggered the recent @LIRR workers strike, once again scabbed the strike with replacement workers and made a strong effort to outright break the leadership of the railroad unions. And she ain’t nearly done yet. She is trying to completely eliminate retiree medical benefits from groups of NYS WORKERS, and increase healthcare contributions by 50 percent. Is it any wonder that the majority of trade union families across New York are rejecting her?
@NYSAFLCIO @CentralLaborNYC @LIFEDofLABOR
Major transit union launches ad blitz ripping Hochul as so 'toxic' that Dem pols are running from her trib.al/IcmHgoL
TWU retweeted
.@NYCMayor took the G train with @GovKathyHochul to campaign for her. Zohran should know that the very @transportworker NYC Transit Workers who delivered them to Greenpoint are under attack in contract negotiations by Hochul and her real estate mogul @MTA CEO, who are demanding massive healthcare concessions. Having to fulfill commitments and campaign alongside Hochul must be absolutely embarrassing to Zohran (on the inside). Hochul has scabbed the very picket lines that Zohran has walked in solidarity with workers. She’s scabbed the NYC Nurses strike. She’s scabbed the @LIRR workers’ and proactively tried to break their unions. Hochul’s overall trade union record is humiliating for @TheDemocrats . Right now, as Zohran keeps his promises to campaign with her , Hochul has a demand on the bargaining table to totally strip NY-NJ Port Authority workers of retiree medical benefits. These are all actions that Zohran would be completely opposed to . But business is business and commitments must be kept .
Hochul is The Bosses Governor, not a governor for The Workers. @NYSAFLCIO @CentralLaborNYC @TWULocal100
.@NYCMayor & @GovKathyHochul took the “G” train to Nassau Avenue - Mamdani returning the favor to Hochul, after she campaigned for him back to back weekends last year.
North Brooklyn is a hotspot of Mamdani voters per figures from last year’s mayoral.
NYC losing jobs and @NYCCouncil Pres. Julie Menin and @CMShaunAbreu
are forcibly closing 68 small business that give popular horse-carriage rides - and 200 jobs! Genius. @TwuSamuelsen
nypost.com/2026/10/23/us-new…
.@nyccouncil is starting to believe its own lies. This does not "Identify training opportunities and tuition assistance for workers." In fact this bill does nothing concrete for workers. Offering "consideration" and writing concrete worker protections Into law are completely different things.
Horse-drawn carriages have long been part of New York City’s history.
But with record heat and a busier-than-ever Central Park, it's no longer safe for the horses or the public.
Today’s legislation:
✅ Ends carriage operations by June 1, 2028
✅ Identifies training opportunities and tuition assistance for workers
✅ Creates a plan to help owners find humane placement for their horses
✅ Requires the City to develop a comprehensive workforce transition plan for the workers
ALT Family stands holding a sign of their lost son.
ALT Two people embrace after vote.
ALT Rally in front of city hall.
ALT Two people embrace after vote.
TWU retweeted
Who would have contemplated that Republican @JoannAriola32 would emerge as a champion of the carriage workers in opposition to this contrived sham of bill, and former @NYCCouncil Labor Committee Chair , Democrat @CnDelarosa would throw her support in with the Manhattan Real Estate Developers against @TWULocal100 and stab blue collar immigrant workers in the back . We’ve always stood with you , and when the going got tough you sided with monied interests against working families. @CentralLaborNYC @NYSAFLCIO
@cndelarosa cannot claim to stand with the workers and then proceed to vote against the workers . She can try to delude herself but in her heart she knows she caved in and screwed the carriage drivers . In the moment TWU Local 100 needed her most, she chose to betray us.
TWU retweeted
@cndelarosa cannot claim to stand with the workers and then proceed to vote against the workers . She can try to delude herself but in her heart she knows she caved in and screwed the carriage drivers . In the moment TWU Local 100 needed her most, she chose to betray us.
TWU retweeted
The workers needed @CMMercedesCD46 today not next year, but she chose to stand with Manhattan real estate developers rather than her own constituents. Mercedes Narcisse is a betrayer of working people who couldn’t be trusted this year , next year or any year. Good luck running for Brooklyn Borough President. The 17,000 @transportworker members in Brooklyn will remember your treachery .
Today is the day that @NYCCouncil Julie Menin delivers the Westside stables over to Manhattan real estate developers who have long wanted to build hotels and skyscrapers there. Today is the day she kicks to the curb hundreds of blue collar workers and families with no economic assistance. Today she stands with millionaires and billionaires who like her have mansions in Hamptons and Cape Cod and no money concerns at all. Shameful.
Councilwoman Ariola is 100% correct. Intro 943 lacks adequate protections for workers and horses, and should be voted down!
I have always believed that our carriage horses deserve to be treated with the utmost care, respect, and consideration. Their well-being must remain a priority, and I support efforts to ensure they receive the proper care and living conditions they deserve. However, I can no longer support a carriage horse ban that fails to give the same level of consideration to the hardworking carriage drivers whose livelihoods are at stake.
A report exploring alternative employment opportunities is simply not enough to justify implementing a ban in 2028. These drivers deserve a meaningful plan, real solutions, and a clear path forward before their ability to earn a living is taken away. We can advocate for the welfare of these horses while also treating the workers and their families fairly. Until those concerns are adequately addressed, I cannot support moving forward with this ban and I have removed my name as a sponsor of the legislation.
Her move was to ban horses as she watched e-bikes and mopeds inflict massive harm on New Yorkers. What gives? Why ban horse carriages instead of addressing the obvious public safety crisis? Because e-bikes aren’t stabled in valuable West Side real estate, and the horse carriages are. And that’s what’s driving Julie's contrived attack on these workers. It’s all about placating real estate developers. @TwuSamuelsen
EXCLUSIVE | Speaker Menin talks with amNewYork about what made her support historic end to Central Park horse carriages amny.com/news/speaker-menin-…
Broken Promises, No Worker Protections
If the NYC Council bans horse-carriage rides, hundreds of blue-collar drivers, owners, and their family members will be financially ruined and emotionally devastated. Jobs that now enable workers to put food on the table, pay the rent, and send their kids to college will be eliminated. At least 68 small businesses will be forced to shutter at a time when small businesses are going under left and right.
Council Speaker Julie Menin promised the legislation banning carriage horses would protect workers and horses. Intro 943 fails on every level. It has no funding, mandates, or guarantees. The bill merely says an unspecified city agency should draft a plan next year with weak measures like job fairs and counseling. There’s no mechanism to ensure horses won’t wind up being neglected or sent to the glue factory. Council members should reject Intro 943. The blue-collar workers and their beloved horses deserve better. @twusamuelsen @CMAmandaFarias @CMMercedesCD46 @Lynn4NYC @CMCrystalHudson @CnDelarosa @vmmaloney @CMNantashaW @OsseChi @CMSandyNurse @CMFarahLouis @CMJustinSanchez @PhilWongNYC @CMCarlWilson
New Yorkers know it would be absolutely absurd and outrageous for the @nyccouncil to ban carriage horses while letting Central Park be a two-wheeled speedway and e-bike crashes kill dozens of people a year. More than 17,000 have been injured since 2019. @TwuSamuelsen @nyc_evsa
E-bike-related emergency room visits soar 760% in three years- and 1,810% for kids: study trib.al/U5IF44l
TWU retweeted
A primary reason is that the mopeds are not housed in extremely valuable west side real estate , which has been eye-balled by Manhattan developers for quite a long time , including, not coincidentally , the founder of NYCLASS, Steve Nislick.
"@govkathyhochul earlier today trying to justify to Rockville Center Little Leaguers on Long Island why she scabbed the @LIRR strike and tried to break their parents' unions. The youngsters were having none of her anti-worker union propaganda, she’s not foolin’ them, unlike Hochul, they’re sticking with the trade union movement 👍." @twusamuelsen @nycaflcio @lifedoflabor
TWU retweeted
It's obvious that @TheRevAl didn't pen this hit-job Op-Ed because it's impossible that he would defend Feinberg/Porkorny , who while employed @MTA as NYC Transit Pres and @MTAIG, participated in/ oversaw a system of racism that targeted and disparately disciplined and terminated @twulocal100 Black & Latino Track Inspectors . Sara Feinberg herself covered up for racist white Track bosses and refused to hold them accountable for their treachery . @twusamuelsen fought back , exposed the racist bosses , exposed Feinberg's role and publicly called her out. So I know the Rev ain't down with racist bosses attacking NYC Transit workers . He couldn't have written the Op-Ed.
TWU retweeted
Today, TWU Local 100 stood alongside NYC horse carriage drivers outside Central Park to fight for their livelihoods and the future of a 160-year New York City tradition.
For these hardworking New Yorkers, many of them immigrants and small business owners, the proposed ban threatens more than their jobs. It threatens their family businesses, their horses, and everything they've worked to build.
TWU Local 100 Administrative VP Alexander Kemp brought up the root of the issue—the founder of NYCLASS is a real estate developer, this is a fight between the monied elite and the working class, and other unions should be paying attention to the fact that the city, with Council Speaker Menin leading the charge, is attempting to end an industry. At the same time, Shop Steward Christina Hanson stood with carriage drivers as they shared emotional accounts of what they stand to lose.
As carriage driver Atakan Atkay put it: “We are not asking for special treatment, we’re asking for fairness, dignity, and justice.”
Save the horses. Save the jobs. Protect working New Yorkers.
Marte, Sponsor of the legislation that would ban horse-carriage rides (Intro 943), is admitting that this is a hollow bill with no concrete relief for workers. He’s also acknowledging that the City Council Leadership was disingenuous when they made public commitments that the bill would protect workers. It’s not a real plan when you have to say things like “might include” compensation and economic relief for drivers and owner-drivers - who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on city-issued medallions. Blue-collar workers and their families who are facing economic ruin are ridiculously being asked to trust the city - facing an $8.8 billion budget deficit - is going to allocate sufficient funds sometime in the future for a just transition. If Marte was sincere he would put it in HIS bill. Empty promises will not put food on the table or enable workers to pay their mortgages, their rent, their grocery bills, etc. This is a horrific way to treat humans. @TwuSamuelsen
Council Member Christopher Marte, sponsor of the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city, told "Inside City Hall" Thursday that a plan will be prepared for April of next year that aims to help horse carriage drivers transition into new careers.
Marte said the aim is to go beyond "what potential jobs there might be" but also include "potential financial assistance for career training, transition into traditional and non-traditional schooling."
“We wanted to make sure we thought of everything to help these workers because enough is enough,” he said.
The TWU is having tremendous success organizing and empowering unrepresented workers with the latest victory today at NYC Ferry. Tech Supervisors voted UNANIMOUSLY to join the TWU - the third work group at NYC Ferry to unionize with the TWU since August. Industrial organizing, all workers at the same employer standing shoulder to shoulder in one Trade Union = WORKER POWER. We are now fully engaged with the NYC Ferry Deckhands. The TWU is absolutely committed fighting to advance their livelihoods. @NYCferry @CentralLaborNYC @NYSAFLCIO
@twusamuelsen
twu.org/twu-organizing-wins-…
The Post is 100% correct on this one. Drivers and carriage owners (small businesss owners) are unnecessarily getting kicked to the curb in a grand display of virtue signaling with no real plan or resources to assist them, or their horses. Horrendous.
Mamdani and Menin’s deal to kill Central Park carriage trade is all about privileged prejudice trib.al/NvbkEM6
