Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / John Samuelson | President of the Transport Workers Union of America on Saving Central Park Horse Carriage Industry & New Ad Campaign Rip...

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John Samuelson | President of the Transport Workers Union of America on Saving Central Park Horse Carriage Industry & New Ad Campaign Rip... · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I got John Samuelson sitting right in front of me
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: right now, and I want him to tell me if
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Julie Menon is telling the truth.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Cut number eight.
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: To me, it was a couple different factors, Pat. Forty-two
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: million people use Central Park each and every year, and
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: the horse carriages are operating in a very crowded area.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: We've had numerous accidents that have happened where horses have
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: been spooked. They've broken free. It's created real issues around
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: public safety in the park with pedestrians. The Central Park
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Conservancy last year came out in favor of the horse
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: carriage ban. And then in June, Rahman Shahjahan lost his life. Tragically,
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: this young man lost his life. And it really it
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: was enough is enough. And so the council decided to act.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: And then over the course of the summer, after the hearing,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: we really tried to focus on worker protection, beefing up
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: the worker protection language in the bill, because we know
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: those workers do need to be protected.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: That's important.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: All right, John, so I've been saying for a couple
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: of weeks on this show, wait a second, more people
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: die from scooters and bicycles that are out of control
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: in this city. She mentions one tourist died. Okay, that's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a terrible thing.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: One.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: As far as I know, one horse died. I'm not
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: familiar with all these issues. I live in New York City.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I work here every day. I'm not familiar with all
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: these major issues.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: So to me, I think she's lying, but I could
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: be wrong. You tell me.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Well, she's certainly lying about the danger that the carriage
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: industry is a public safety crisis or danger that needed
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: to be addressed. She's absolutely lying through her teeth about that.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: A horse did die over the summer, and it died
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: because the Central Park Conservancy planted poisonous plants in the
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: pathway of the horse and carriages. That's why the horse
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: ate a poisonous plant.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Because as far as I know, and again, this is
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the president of the Transport Workers Union. He's a great guy,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: John Samuelson. As far as I know, that's the only
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: horse that died. And they do have provisions in place
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: on very, very hot days. They won't run those horses
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: out there, right?
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, on hot days and on cold days, that's absolutely true.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: And I heard a reference to transit workers in New York,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: but in any city across the country. I mean, transit
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: workers work in extremely hot weather, extremely cold weather. Everybody does,
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: all construction workers. The horses actually require blankets in the winter.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: and are in air conditioning in the summer in their stables.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: And by the way, more than one horse died, but
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: horses have died from natural causes. That particular horse she's
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: talking about died because the Central Park poisoned it.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, people die from heart attacks every day. Horses
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: are living animals as far as I know. So one
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: horse died, you're going to shut down the whole industry?
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know what's going on here, John. The
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: smart people, me, John Katsimatidis coming up next, President Donald Trump,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: we know what's going on here. There is real estate there.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: They're not going to build schools on it. They're not
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: going to build temples or churches on it. They're going
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: to build housing. So the city is looking at this as, hey,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: we lie about the horses. We talk about one tourist,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: God rest his soul, and we can have that land
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: there and make.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Some money on real estate. Is that really what's going
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: on here?
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: The NICLAS, which is the primary organization that is really
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: founded by a real estate developer masquerading as an animal
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: rights organization. It was even in 2008 when it was founded,
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: the original pamphlet that they put out referenced the value
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: of the stables in Hell's Kitchen. There's three stables, extremely valuable.
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: So this is what this fight's always been about. It's
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: every inch of the way it's been about this real
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: estate problem. And and finally, the New York City, the
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: outer borough, New York City council is in particular should
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: be ashamed of themselves for going along with this real
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: estate grab.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Or Julie Menon lied.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Julie Menon lied. One hundred percent. Now, let me get
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to the mayor, because you were here one other time.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I like you a lot.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: But there was tension because this was when Mamdani was
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: running for office and you said you liked him and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you were saying nice things about him. You can't do
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that in these studios. I hate the guy. I hate
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the guy with a venom. If the guy stood in
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: front of me, I probably couldn't control myself.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I'm being serious.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I'm being physically violent. Not so much I hate this guy, okay?
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I've been saying that on the air right now.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I don't care. Now, you know that he's not your
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: friend here.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: You stuck up on that day. You said, oh, he's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a nice guy. He said he's a nice guy. He
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: is partly, if not a lot of the reason why,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: this business is going away.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So what are you saying today about your good friend,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the mayor?
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: So I certainly don't hate the mayor, you know, and
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: I have an ability to separate the somebody's behavior from somebody.
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: I have a tendency not to hate people.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Do you hate any politician? Do you hate any politician? No,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: not particularly. I don't even hate Hochul. Well, you should.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: You should hate Hochul, too. I try not to hate anybody.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: I don't want to wake up with that.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I know you're a nice man, but you should hate Hochul.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: You should hate Bogdani.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: I hate his behavior.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: And by the way, so let me draw a distinction
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: between Julie Menon and Zoran.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Zoran has a morally.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Held belief that That the horses shouldn't be doing what
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: they're doing in Central Park. Julie Menon supported us on
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: this issue until the day of a tragedy of a
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: tourist dying in Central Park. She exploited the grief of
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: the family. She freaking drove this forward for the purposes
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: of real estate development in Hell's Kitchen.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: And that's despicable. And I will say one thing about Zorian.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Zorian should have been calling out the contrived nature of
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: what Julie Menon has done with the city council instead
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: of going along with it.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: And that is reprehensible. He should be calling out her
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: bad behavior.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: He should be doing that.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Well, you don't hate Zoran, but at the very least,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: you're being critical of him today.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: I disagree with what he's doing. He's aware of that.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: I've had this conversation with him. But there is a
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: difference between him. He didn't start this. He should be
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: calling out her behavior. He should be disagreeing with it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: And the end does not justify the means.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Now, John, what is the governor's role in this?
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Well, the governor doesn't have any role in this except
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: saying that she agrees with it, which is utterly ridiculous.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: She should mind her own business.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: But she did give me a shout out at the
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: debate on this issue.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard that. I did hear that. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: It's good to know I'm on her mind.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, at this point, John, for what it's worth,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: you're probably the most famous union leader here in.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: The city, right?
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: I don't know about that, but if it is so big,
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: I think it is.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: Well, if that's true, it's because I'm fighting back against
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: the politicians and the bosses that are hurting workers.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about the horse owners. I've got
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a talk about the city council, a dear, dear friend
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: who listens every morning. And I think I think the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: world of her name is Vicky Palladino.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I know you know her. She's in Queens.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: She's been out there rallying for the horse owners. We
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: hear about the horse drivers. We hear about the actual horses.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: But these horse owners are also getting screwed. And as
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: far as I know, they can't use these horses in
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: any of the five boroughs. So what are the owners
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: saying to you?
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: So there's 68 medallion owners. This is at the heart
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: of the matter, really.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: It's one of the issues that is going to make
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: us successful in hopefully invalidating the law. And I saw
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: there was a, you know, Tom Allen was mentioned, the
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: publisher of City State. You know, he's a fanatical anti-horse guy.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Arthur I. Dollar mentioned him, yes.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I already mentioned him. He's a fanatical anti-horse guy.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: He wrote an op-ed, which I didn't read yet, saying
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: that Julie Menon versus the union boss and Julie prevailed. Well,
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: it ain't over till it's over because the law is
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: fatally flawed. 68 medallion owners that invested a lot of
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: money into their small businesses. The medallions were sold by
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: the city of New York, and the law just makes
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: their investment moot, valueless. And this is America, and you
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: can't sell somebody something if you're the government and then
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: say it's worth nothing.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Now, here's another place where you should take the mayor
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: to the woodshed, okay?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: He's one of the people, along with John O'Lieber from
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the MTA and Julie Menon, who promised that those lovely people,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: all those immigrants they worry about every day, that are
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: out there riding around these horses, they were going to
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: get jobs after they whacked them and destroyed the industry.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: There's no proof of any of that. Do you have
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: any confidence in your friend the mayor or anybody else
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: in politics they're going to help these people out when
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: they whack the whole industry?
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: So to give you an honest answer to that, the
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: law itself really has no concrete protections, and the only
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: entity in this whole mix that actually will support those
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: workers is the mayor. And I know you hate him,
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: but the mayor is the only one who will come
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: through for those workers.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: But do you think he will? Yeah, I don't think
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: he's going to— What do the workers think? What about you?
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: What do the workers think?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Because I hear a lot of them being interviewed on
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: TV and radio. They're scared to death. They have no
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: confidence in the mayor or anybody else.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: I think it's premature to have that conversation because this
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: thing is not over till it's over. There's going to
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: be a lawsuit. If he signs the bill into law,
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: we're going to be in court the next day or
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: that day if he signs it early enough. And it's
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: premature to have that conversation. But I do believe the
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: mayor when he says he will look after the workers.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: What if he doesn't?
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: If well then he's a liar okay and he'll be
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: called out as a liar on this show and all
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: the shows.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I don't i don't even know because i love these
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: people who drive the horses i do i love them
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: but i almost hope that they get screwed because i
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: want you to come in here and call the mayor
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: a liar actually i want to be up for that
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: day i'm sorry.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: Well isn't it ironic that the democratic party is attacking
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: uh you know 200 immigrant largely immigrant workers that's a
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: right there's a great iron There is. I'm the furthest
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: thing from a Republican. I freaking if I despise anything,
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: it's the institutional parties of America that continually abandon working people.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: So what are you then?
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: I'm a trade unionist.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: That's it. Yeah.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: The trade union is the only institution in America looking
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: out for working people. As we see the Democrats abandon
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: working people, the Republicans have a freaking loathing for working
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: people in many instances, particularly in the South. The working
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: people in America are in an atrocious spot.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: Not here, though. Not here, though.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: In this city, the Republicans are, believe me, they're on
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: your side before the time. I'm telling you, in this city,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that's the case. We're not in the Southwest.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: I checked. We're in New York City.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: I distinguish between the institutions of both parties, which are poison,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: and then individual Democrats and Republicans, of which there are
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: many who are very good.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: So who would you vote for, then, in a local election?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Do you just stay away?
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Or?
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: No. So I run a trade union, right? 170,000 members.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: And we have a gauge and we gauge people on
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: their support for working people. And we do not vote
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: for people or endorse people because they're Democrats or Republicans.
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: We endorse people because of what their record is for
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: working people.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: I have no issue with that. His name is John Samuelson.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Good guy.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: He's the president of the Transport Workers Union. I also
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: saw something last week. There's no proof of this, obviously. But,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you know, when they whacked this industry, what are you
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: going to do with the horses? Somebody said they're just
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: going to kill all these horses.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're going to do that. But that
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: that thought is out there.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: That is also going to be another element of the lawsuit,
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: because the New York City Council actually just passed a
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: law that can severely constrains an owner of a horse's ability.
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: To actually sell the horse.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: And when you do that, there is a very good
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: chance that the horses will wind up in a very
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: bad spot, like in a factory that's going to dispatch them.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: So that could happen?
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it really could happen.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: It not only really could, it very likely will.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: So one of these people, people who love the horses,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: now they're putting the horses in a position where they
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: will be basically executed.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, they know not what they do.
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: Wow.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: And is there any data that backs up Julie Menon?
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: You called her a liar, so did I. Well, she said,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: we've got all these incidents.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Are you aware? Is there any data that can prove
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: their point?
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Because she can't just say that without providing all these examples.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: So she's engaging in, at best, to be generous to her,
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: an extreme act of hyperbole. If you compare the incidents
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: with the horses compared to the bikes and the mopeds
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: that you referenced, it's minuscule. Absolutely minuscule. There have been
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: 28 deaths. from e-bikes in New York City and relatively
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: hardly any instances with the horses. But she did nothing
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: to address the incidents with the bikes and the mopeds
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: until the TWU and other critics said, are you out
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: of your mind? You're addressing one death in 168 years
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: of an industry, 28 deaths from e-bikes.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: You've done nothing. So she is a liar.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Julie Madden.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And part of my issue with the mayor too is,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: not to just keep pounding them, but I believe that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: he could care less about tradition in this city.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: I know that's the case, in fact. I know that.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: You may like him. That's fine. He couldn't care less
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: about tradition in this city. This is tradition. I mean,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: these tourists come here. They love it. It's beautiful. The
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: horses are beautiful.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I've done the Central Park thing many, many times when
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I was younger, okay, before I was married to my
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: beautiful wife.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: That was a big date thing. I think I did
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: it with four or five different girls. We always loved it.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: We loved it.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: The mayor has no interest in what has happened in
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: New York, the tradition that makes this city beautiful.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Will you at least admit that?
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: I certainly would admit that the mayor does not have
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: does does not have a view of American traditionalism the
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: way that a out of borough working class guy would
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: like me, for.
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: Instance, or you, for instance, maybe.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Where are you from? What borough are you from?
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: I'm from Brooklyn. You can't tell by the way.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: No, I know. Oh, that's right.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: You asked me about Sheepshead Bay today. That's why I
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: love you, John. I love all the Brooklyn people. You're
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: from Garrison Beach, right?
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: From right next door to Sheepshead Bay.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man. You're a real New Yorker. That area right there,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: that's real New York. You know that, right?
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly working class New York with a high
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: level of trade union density for sure.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: How are the rest of your group doing? Bus drivers and...
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: The guys that ride the trains every day, are they
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: relatively happy? How's that going for those people?
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: Well, so we represent transit cities all over the country.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: But when you're talking about New York, since you brought
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: it up, we're in a fairly significant contract fight with
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: the governor of New York State, which is playing itself
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: out right now.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Well, can't the mayor help you there? So Kathy Hochul
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: is so scared of the mayor. If he calls Kathy
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: today and says, hey, Kathy, give these guys a break,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: you know that would help you, right? You know that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: would help you.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm sure that would help us. And I've made
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: my opinion.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: I've called it out very loudly what my opinion is
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: with Zoran campaigning with Kathy Hochul. I hope the poison
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: of Kathy Hochul doesn't get all over him.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, he's lathered in it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? They both stink. Both of them smell.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: They smell like each other. So when is that contract
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: up for the... and the bus riders and those people.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: It was up in May.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, really?
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: It was up in May.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: So just, you know, for all the Democrats and the
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: other trade unions for that matter that support Kathy Hochul,
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: she's attacking the public sector trade unions in New York
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: State pretty brutally right now. For instance, our Port Authority
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: blue-collar workforce, she's trying to eliminate their retiree health care totally.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: No.
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: She wants to totally eliminate their retiree health care.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: New York City transit workers right now, she wants to increase...
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: healthcare contributions by 50%. She's got a lot of other
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: concession demands on the table. So this is no trade
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: union supporting governor. And by the way, she scabbed the
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: last three strikes. She fired 3,000 correctional officers that struck
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: over prison conditions. She triggered a strike on the Long
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: Island Railroad and then tried to break the unions. She
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: scabbed the New York City nurses strike. By the way,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Zoran walked those picket lines.
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: He walked the picket lines and Hochul scabbed the strike.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: That's true. That did happen. Yeah, that did happen. You're right. So,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: you know that Bruce Blakeman at one point worked for
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the Port Authority.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, for him, this is gold, right? You're looking
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: for reasons for people not to vote for Kathy. If
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I'm Bruce Blakeman, I swear to God, Election Day is
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: eight days away.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: You know what I do? I sit down today with
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: John Samuelson. With you. No, I'm serious.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Because unions and all these beautiful nurses and these beautiful
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: drivers of the buses and the trains and the correction officers,
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: all these people, the fabric of New York City, and
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Kathy Hochul, according to you, John Samuelson, is shoving.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: Up their ass every day. Yeah, she's anti-trade union.
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: She's at best, she's got an extremely mixed record on
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: the trade unions.
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: And it's indicated in the polls. It's reflected in the polls.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: I mean, the overwhelming majority of trade union families in
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: New York State don't support it, don't approve of it,
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: have no intention of voting for her.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: God bless you, John. I think I love you more today.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: So on the way out, this thing's not over yet.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: They haven't filed the paperwork yet, but they're going to.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: It's just at this point, it's not a matter of
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: if it's a matter of when. So when they do,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: you guys are going to do what first?
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: We're going to go to court and we're going to
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: try to invalidate the law. We believe we have a
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: solid case. It's not John Samuelson track worker, you know. Lawyer-ish-ness.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: We have lawyers, real lawyers, telling us that the law
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: is extremely flawed.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: And on the way out, one more time for the
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: third time, because I like hearing it. Julie Menon, she's
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: lying here.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, she's lying.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: She's doing the bidding of Manhattan real estate developers. She
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: betrayed the workers. She betrayed the TWU. She'll betray every
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: other union that comes across her, you know, comes into
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: her range. This is very disappointing to us, but that's
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: what she's done.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: And Kathy Hochul, the governor, no friend of any of
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: you people.
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: No, absolutely not. She has no idea how to keep
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: her word. She's another Democratic Party betrayer. It is what
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: it is. And I hope she loses.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I hope the people that are in your unions appreciate
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: what a great leader you are, man.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: You are a great leader. And you got a nice
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: jacket on today. Where'd you get that? The garage in Brooklyn?
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Where'd you get it?
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: No, I got it in Ireland, actually.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, you did?
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: You're of Irish descent, obviously.
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: I am Irish.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: What town are you from, originally?
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: My mother is from Derry. My people are all in Derry,
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: up in the north. I'm a north man.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Are they still there?
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: They're here now.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no.
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: My mother's passed, but all of them.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: My whole family is in Ireland. I have more cousins
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: there than I do here.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: No kidding.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Well, John, you're a great guy. You're doing a great
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: job with all this. People are very, very lucky to
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: have you. And you're welcome back here anytime.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: You're a great American, even though you're an Irishman. Thank
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: you so much. Thank you. All right.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: John Samuelson right there happens to be the president of
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the Transport Workers Union.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: They're very lucky to have him. He's a terrific guy.
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: mornings at 6. If you like the podcast, share it
• 17:51
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• 17:59
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• 18:06
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• 18:09
  Speaker 6: so you never have to wonder.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: What the heck is going on here?