International President James C. Little and New York State Senate Democratic Majority Leader Malcolm Smith were among the speakers at this year’s Local 100 mass membership meeting at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

President Little thanked the big crowd of 2,500 members for their efforts in helping elect President Barack Obama and other labor-friendly candidates. And he outlined the many challenges facing TWU and the labor movement in the months ahead.

Much of the meeting focused on the Local’s fight to remain financially stable during the 17-month period without dues checkoff as punishment for the 2005 transit strike.

The Local presented a series of awards to a number of division officers for outstanding work during the loss of checkoff. Secretary Treasurer Ed Watt reported that, when checkoff was restored, 60 percent of members had paid all or almost all of their dues and 92 percent had made some payment. In all, the Local collected 70 percent of the total dues during the period without checkoff.