Forces Renewed Talks: Unlucky 7: TWU Contract Rejected

Forces Renewed Talks

Unlucky 7: TWU Contract Rejected

Transport Workers' Union Local 100 members voted down a proposed contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Jan. 20 by just seven votes.

JOHN MOONEY: Health payment killed deal. Union leaders indicated they would attempt to start negotiations again with the MTA but did not comment on the possibility of calling another strike if such talks failed.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said that while he was willing to meet with the union, he also intended to move ahead with the process that could place the contract into binding arbitration.

Toussaint Points Fingers

More than 22,000 ballots were cast before voting ended at noon. Local 100 President Roger Toussaint announced the results at a news conference three hours later, saying he was "disappointed" at the tally of 11,234 against to 11,227 in favor.

He pinned much of the blame for the contract's rejection on Governor Pataki, saying that his threats to veto legislation related to pension refunds sowed doubt in members' minds that they would receive the promised benefit.

The "downright lies" spread by members of a dissident faction and opponents of the contract also contributed to the "no" vote, Mr. Toussaint added. The contract's defeat suggests possible political problems for him when he seeks re-election towards the end of the year.

Mayor Bloomberg issued a statement calling the deal's rejection "disappointing news" but encouraging "both the TWU and the MTA to work together on an amicable resolution to their contract dispute."

GOVERNOR PATAKI: Toussaint blames him.

Health-Care Iceberg

The spurned 37-month contract would have given members better wage hikes than they got under their previous deal - 3, 4 and 3.5 percent increases compared to a $1,000 signing bonus the first year and 3 percent the following two years in 2002 - and lifetime medical coverage, along with a sizable pension refund to approximately 20,000 members.

But it was tripped up by a 1.5-percent employee contribution toward health care, a concession Mr. Toussaint negotiated in lieu of creating a new pension tier that would have had future hires contributing 6 percent of their salaries toward their pensions, compared to 2 percent for current workers.

Many members objected to going out on strike and coming back only to agree to a deal that contained a precedent-setting giveback on health care. Others felt the concession would set off a negative chain reaction for municipal unions and result in more employee contributions in the future.

The various groups that opposed the contract were quick to point to an escalator clause in the deal that would raise the percentage deducted if the MTA's healthcare costs exceed a certain level. An added objection was that the deduction would have been pegged on gross earnings, including overtime, rather than just base salary.

They minimized the value of the pension refund because it would have been subject to taxes if they didn't place the money in some form of Individual Retirement Account. It was also unavailable to anyone who retired prior to June 30, 2004. The last time Local 100 members rejected a contract was in 1992, and workers were urged by many within the union to do the same this year.

Frantic Lobbying

The intense campaigning from both sides grew more aggressive as the date of the vote approached. One union source said early tallies from the American Arbitration Association showed 60 percent of voters from Rapid Transit Operations - Mr. Toussaint's political stronghold - had gone against the deal, while the Car Equipment division was recording extremely low turnout, sending the union's executive offices into campaign overdrive. Earlier last week Mr. Toussaint issued several flyers "clearing the air" and "plowing through the disinformation" about the 1.5 percent contribution.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James A VICTORY IN DEFEAT: Ainsley Stewart, a TWU Local 100 vice president for Car Equipment, was among the union officers who urged members to reject their tentative wage deal. Looking on is another executive board member who lobbied against the contract, Marty Goodman. "[The deduction] does not turn into 3.0 percent the 2nd year or 4.5 percent the 3rd year - as some would like you to think," he wrote. "It does not compound into 4.5 percent over the life of the contract, but continues to remain roughly 1.5 percent of your gross salary."

He also issued a memo Jan. 9 forbidding any paid union officer from campaigning against the proposed contract on Local 100 time.

Fines Imposed

"Consistent with the executive board vote, any officer who engages in such campaigning [ ... ] will be pay docked," he wrote.

Local 100 Vice President Ainsley Stewart, one of five vice presidents who sued the union for $3 million, said he was docked a week's pay - $1,701 - for his vocal criticism of the contract.

He was outside the mid-town Manhattan location were the contract news conference was held, along with Vice President of Stations John Mooney and others opposed to the contract.

"This is about the money and the benefits in the contract, not about politics," said Mr. Mooney. "The feedback I got was that [the members] didn't like having to pay 1.5 percent of their benefits toward health-care - they didn't go out on strike to end up with that."

Wants Return to Table

He said he'd been calling for the executive board to immediately reconvene to discuss strategy. The best course of action, he said, was to send Mr. Toussaint back to the negotiating table immediately.

This is an election year for Local 100, and it's unclear whether the contract rejection will harm Mr. Toussaint's bid for re-election. Sixty percent of the membership voted to ratify their contract in 2002 and the same percentage voted for his presidency later that year.

Mr. Toussaint was also confronted with executive board charges the day before the vote brought by two of his former allies - Track Equipment Chair Marc Albritton and Track Division Chair John Samuelsen.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James CONTRACT GOES OFF THE TRACKS: Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint's face reflects the grim news that his members rejected the tentative wage deal he brought back by just seven votes out of more than 22,000 cast. They alleged that Mr. Toussaint violated Local 100's bylaws by neglecting to hold executive committee meetings since mid-summer, and putting workers on the union payroll and issuing statements as union policy without first consulting the executive committee.

'Can't Evade Bylaws'

The two men criticized Mr. Toussaint for not following long-established union protocols. Mr. Albritton said they were not aligned with the dissident group that sued Local 100 last year.

"Even when you're campaigning to get a contract ratified, there are still procedures to follow. The union bylaws were created for a reason; it's a system of checks and balances and we're just stating that it shouldn't be just thrown out the window," he said.

Mr. Toussaint maintained that opposition forces within the union were using the contract dispute to heighten their profiles as a precursor to union elections.

Mr. Stewart and Mr. Mooney, he charged, were not radicals looking for a better deal for members, but agitators with their own political agendas.

Local 100 was fined $3 million after it went on a three-day strike last month. Striking workers were fined two days' pay for each day on strike, although a judge has yet to determine how much of those fines the union and its employees will pay.

Mr. Toussaint was to have faced contempt charges related to the strike in Brooklyn's state Supreme Court Jan. 20, but Justice Theodore Jones postponed the hearing until next month.