The many faces of Anthony J. Bottalico

The following quote from Anthony Bottalico, General Chairman of Local 77 on Metro-North Railroad, is from a UTU newsletter dated July of 1998. The question was “is the AFL-CIO affiliation advantageous for the UTU?” Tony response was “In my opinion, it's a disadvantage for commuter railroads, for a couple of reasons. I think the AFL-CIO hinders good representation. They don't know our industry. I think there are too many rail labor unions, and the AFL-CIO stands in the way of consolidation. We have intelligence and resources to represent our people better than anyone else around. The reason things work well for us here is because of strong UTU and BLE leadership. ”

In December of 1998 the first letters concerning the formation of a new independent union called the Association of Commuter Rail Employees (ACRE) was being mailed out and promoted by Tony on Metro-North property. I guess Tony had a change of heart and decided that there were not enough rail labor unions after all.

In June of 2000 while serving as Executive Director of this new independent rail union, ACRE, the ACRE membership is informed, “The Board is exploring the advantages and requirements of affiliating with the AFL-CIO. This can be a long process and can take up to two years before final approval . We have been in contact with their state offices and hope to have more to report in the near future.” Yet another change of heart by Tony. The ACRE membership has not heard or received word since this letter (six years ago) about the AFL-CIO afflation, nor are we currently affiliated with any International.

Finally, Tony states that the reason things so work well for us here on Metro-North is because of a strong UTU and BLE leadership. Yet another change of heart for Tony. During the A-card campaign Tony criticized the UTU and BLE for doing nothing for the membership on Metro-North property. The Internationals did not understand our problems on Metro-North and only screwed up our contract negotiations when they showed up. Yet in another change of heart Tony stated during the campaign for ACRE that he intentionally kept the UTU International off of Metro-North property and out of the contract negotiations. It was a waste to send all of this dues money to Cleveland, we could save all of this money and pass a dues reduction along for the membership. Yet in another change of heart, no dues reduction was ever passed on to the ACRE membership and ACRE Local 1 members just received a 3% dues increase. These International officers only cared about the freight railroads and their own careers. We could take better care of ourselves without the Internationals. Tony who are you taking care of now and whose career are you only concerned with? Certainly not your current or future ACRE membership. The first order of business for Tony under ACRE was the negotiation of his full-time union release position with MTA Metro-North, plus Tony also collects a salary from ACRE Local Division 1, plus reimbursement of all expenses. Not a bad days pay.

Remember this news article, Tony's statements and quick change of heart when Tony approaches you. You have to wonder which face Tony will have on and use that day. How soon after he talks to you, then walks away, will Tony have the next change of heart? Beware of the man that wears many faces.