Judge Suspends Dues Deduction Rights of TWU; Imposes $2.5M Fine For Strike; Union Plans to Appeal

Judge Suspends Dues Deduction Rights of TWU;
Imposes $2.5M Fine For Strike; Union Plans to Appeal

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS and RICHARD STEIER

A Brooklyn judge April 17 dealt a severe blow to the viability of Transport Workers' Union Local 100 when he indefinitely suspended its right to automatic dues deduction from employee paychecks and fined it $2.5 million for last December's transit strike.

The Chief-Leader/Ginger Adams Otis JUGGLING AS FAST AS HE CAN: The morning after he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for leading last December's transit strike, Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint was back in court trying to convince a judge not to fine the union $3 million or suspend its dues checkoff privileges, while awaiting the outcome of a membership re-vote on his narrowly rejected wage contract. Though Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones knocked $500,000 off the original penalty he had levied against Local 100 for the three-day walkout, the stiffness of the sanctions was protested immediately afterwards by union President Roger Toussaint.

'Unfair and Political'

"The results are unfair, excessive and political," he said following the ruling, which he said disregarded Metropolitan Transportation Authority bargaining tactics - including a demand that the union agree to an inferior pension plan for future members - that figured heavily in his decision to lead the walkout Dec. 20.

"The MTA engaged in provocation, and there was no responsibility for that assigned by the court," Mr. Toussaint said.

He vowed to appeal the ruling to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. Justice Jones gave the union the right to petition him for relief of the dues checkoff loss - which takes effect April 19 - after 90 days. Union officials had said that losing the right to have dues automatically deducted from members' paychecks had nearly crippled Local 100 following a 1980 transit strike and would have the same damaging effect today.

The judge imposed lesser penalties against two Amalgamated Transit Union locals - Local 726 in Staten Island and Local 1056 in Queens - for their roles in the walkout. Each had its dues checkoff rights revoked for 30 days. Local 1056 was fined $187,000, and Local 726 was assessed a penalty of $125,000 for taking part in the strike, which is illegal under the Taylor Law. In addition to the penalties against the unions, individual workers are due to lose two days' pay for each day on strike.

Prior to Justice Jones's ruling, the State AFL-CIO and the national labor federation's New York City Central Labor Council announced a mass rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall April 24, the same day that Mr. Toussaint was scheduled to begin a 10-day jail sentence for his role leading the transit strike.

'Workers Under Attack'

An ad placed by the AFL-CIO groups in this newspaper stated that sending Mr. Toussaint to jail "simply because he stood up for the rights and well-being of his members is wrong."

Asserting that the Taylor Law "favors management over the interests of public employees" while private-sector workers were facing "the erosion of protections won 70 years ago under the Wagner Act," the ad stated, "Working people across this country are under attack like never before." In urging participation in the rally, the ad concluded, "Now is the time to stand together."

Short on Cash

Hearings last week focused heavily on Local 100's financial condition and the union's claim that it would be bankrupted if Justice Jones suspended dues checkoff rights and did not reduce his original fine of $3 million - $1 million for each day on strike.

The union's treasurer, Ed Watt, testified that the local had just $542,000 in cash on hand. When Neal Abramson, a lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, cited discrepancies between the union's filings with the U.S. Labor Department for the past two years, Mr. Watt responded that they reflected changes in the Federal forms rather than an attempt to conceal income.

He cited the fact that after Local 100 lost dues checkoff rights as a penalty for its 11-day strike in 1980, income - once the added expenses entailed by collecting by hand were figured in - fell off by nearly two thirds. The union in 1982 was able to persuade a judge to reinstate checkoff rights because it demonstrated an inability to stay financially afloat otherwise.

Could Cause Staff Cuts

Mr. Abramson pointed out that online payroll accounts weren't available during that period, but Mr. Watt said even if that method were used to make it easier for the union to collect dues without their being automatically deducted from paychecks, it still was likely to lose enough income that staff would have to be laid off.

Mr. Toussaint had testified that prior to the strike, Local 100 received three or four bids from developers seeking to buy its headquarters at 80 West End Ave. The higher bidder offered about $60 million, he said, with the others all in the $40 million range.

When Mr. Abramson asked Mr. Watt whether proceeds from a building sale wouldn't easily cover the lost income from the strike penalties, he responded that with no alternative site yet lined up, "The union would be left with no building, no place to operate out of." As this paper went to press, Mr. Toussaint was awaiting the April 18 results of a re-vote among union members on the MTA contract that was rejected by a seven-vote margin in January.

He was also preparing for 10 days' jail time - which he will begin serving April 24 - for his role in orchestrating the union's strike. Justice Jones imposed that sentence against the union leader during an April 10 hearing.

Mr. Toussaint was quietly confident the membership would approve the contract the second time around, even though the MTA has insisted it won't honor the terms. The agency has welcomed the Public Employment Relations Board recommendation for binding arbitration, even as Mr. Toussaint has continued to oppose it.

The union leader said he thought the "pressure will shift to the MTA" once the revote results were in.

'Up to the MTA'

"We've had a lot of support from [local elected officials], and we're doing what's necessary to accept responsibility for our part of this," said Mr. Toussaint. "After the vote, it will be up to the MTA to deal with the results."

He dismissed the suggestion floated by some of his political opponents within the union that he wasn't appealing his jail sentence because the punishment enhanced his profile as a militant labor leader.

"I knew the risk back in December, but this is not a bid for celebrity status," he asserted. "We took this chance because it was our heartfelt position."