School bus drivers, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, say they want their union back.

Members of a group within the ATU Local 1181 who call themselves “Members for Change” are outraged about their corrupt union leadership.

Three top officers in the union – President Salvatore Battaglia, Secretary Treasurer Julius “Spike” Bernstein (who is on leave of absence), and Medical Fund Director Ann Chiarovano – were recently indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Union members are also outraged that 80 percent of the union’s 16,000 members are predominantly men and women of color – Haitians, Latinos and African Americans – while all 13 executive board members are white males. Members for Change, on the other hand, is made up of union members from all backgrounds.

The three ATU Local 1181 leaders were charged along with Matthew “Matty the Horse” Iannello, who has been identified as an acting head of the Genovese crime family and who plead guilty on September 14 to “receiving unlawful payments” from the union.

Union members reached out to numerous federal, state and local elected officials for help and support. In response many, including Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), wrote the ATU International executive board to say that the U.S. Department of Justice investigation and damning press coverage make it “incumbent on the ATU International to intervene to take action.”

Over the past couple of years, according to Members for Change organizer Eddie Kay, the ATU International removed the presidents of other locals throughout the country, a number of whom were African American.

“To be honest, they don’t care in this case because the executive board is white and the members are mainly Haitian,” Kay said. He said the international’s response to what’s happening at ATU Local 1181 was to say it was appointing a vice president to “monitor the local’s financial affairs.” The vice president, however, has been there for years and, Kay insisted, is part of the problem.

Brijida Pilgrim, a bus driver for 12 years and a union member for 11 years, said all she wants is “to get all the bad people out of the union.” She further stated, “They don’t look after our safety. When you get into trouble, there’s no one to represent you. Members have to dig into their own pockets for legal help. We’re tired of it.”

Pilgrim said members didn’t even get to see a contract the leadership recently settled.

“Our last contract expired in June, and they signed a new one in July. We’re supposed to get retroactive pay, but they said we’re not getting any. We want to know where our money is going. We stood up in the contract ratification meeting and told them we wanted the contract mailed to each member.” So far, Pilgrim said, that hasn’t been done.

In several letters to the Amalgamated Transit Union in Washington, members for Change asked President Warren S. George to step in, saying, “The other officers of Local 1181 must be removed from their leadership positions until the trial has ended and all facts about the mafia’s control of our local are out.”

International did not respond to the Amsterdam News by press time.