MTA board member Barry Feinstein, seems pretty unperturbed with the early morning protests planned for tomorrow.
“It’s certainly fair. Their posture is one that is perfectly fine and appropriate. I don’t have any difficulty with them doing it,” Feinstein, a former Teamsters labor leader who now chairs the New York City Transit Committee of the MTA board, said.
“I don’t think it will make a difference in the posture of the MTA board but I have no quarrel with their right to do it,” he added.
Besides, he said, he has a busy day tomorrow and will likely be out of the house before 6:30 a.m.
-- Chuck Bennett
Comments (1)
18 to 20 of us arrived at Mr. Feinstein's house this morning just after 6 AM. We had to park down the street and when we arrived at his house he was just pulling out of the drive way. He wouldn't look at us. As soon as we drove into the complex we were shadowed by Westchester Co. police but I have to say that they were very courteous and sympathetic to our cause. There were two marked police units and one unmarked in front of Mr. Feinstein's house.
We broke off into two groups, one stayed in front of the house and the other walked the community wearing TWU tee-shirts and carrying placards protesting the MTA. We put our leaflets on all the mailboxes in the neighborhood. Residents were waking up and coming out for a jog or to walk their dogs. They were friendly to us. We spoke to them, bent down to pet their dogs, and gave them our leaflets. When we were leaving, the police thanked us for being peaceful. We knew it was better for his neighbors to have a positive view of TWU. If their sole knowledge of Local 100 was supplied to them by the conservative press in N.Y., then we wanted to show them different.
Although Mr. Feinstein left early, I think he got the idea. His nieghbors know our issues now. It doesn't appear to be such a big deal to visit a board members place of residence. But when this moment becomes history, and it is looked back on along with everything we went and are about to go through, we will be viewed as the Union that brought back the meaning of the words "labor struggle".