BYRON BOLLING

Union Shop Steward, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1056

When I transferred in to a new facility at the end of August 2015, I met the newly elected employee representative (their shop steward), Byron Bolling!  Little did I know that our introduction to one another would change my life (both personally and professionally) forever.

As we began our new roles, it quickly became apparent that our relationship wasn’t going to be the stereotypically adversarial management/union kind.  Byron is different and I can not share strongly enough, how kind and caring he is for not only his membership but with ALL people!

To help illustrate with an example, we were heading to our headquarters building in Manhattan for a meeting and were on a pretty packed subway car. Somehow, Byron saw a gentleman thumbing through the Bible at the other end of the car. 

He deftly made his way through the crowd and engaged him in conversation. Watching this, I was blown away by the intimacy of their discussion and the “light” radiating from them was inspiring (yet humbling). A few minutes later, we arrived at our destination and they warmly wished each other well as we departed the train.

While this may be small to many, there are many more terrific instances that I can share that would make you want to become a friend of Byron’s; as he is someone who makes this a better world!

Byron, this is long overdue! Thank you for everything that you have done for me, Carolyn, your family & friends, and, of course, everyone at Casey Stengel Depot (the reason we were brought together).

-John Miskulin, AGM, Operations, NYC Buses