Letters to the Editor
Local 100 Deal Fell Short

To the Editor:

The July 28 Letter to the Editor titled "TWU Deal Superior to DC 37's" could only have come from someone who is not an hourly paid Local 100-represented New York City Transit employee, and who is insensitive to the needs of Local 100 members and city and state workers as a whole.

And, Claudia Preparata, the research director for Transport Workers' Union Local 100 who wrote the letter, fits both categories.

Ms. Preparata is not an NYC Transit worker, nor Local 100-represented member, and is not affected by the outcome of our contract agreement. Sadly, Ms. Preparata is one of a growing number of people who Roger Toussaint, the Local 100 president, hired to support his disinformation and propaganda campaigns against Local 100 members.

At this stage, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reporting a billiondollar surplus in 2005 and another one of $711 million this year, it is unbelievable that Toussaint, through his appointee, still continues to bully our membership into giving back 1.5 percent of gross biweekly wages for health premiums, which represents a loss of between $600 and $1,200 annually for our members.

Put simply, the 1.5 percent amounts to giving back the cost of one week's vacation time for some of our members. The contract before the strike, a strike which cost us an estimated $29 million in lost wages and fines, did not require us to pay health premiums. This put to rest Toussaint's misinformation and scare tactics campaign that paying health premiums is here, and our members had no choice.

The fact is, after the strike, Toussaint introduced paying health premiums. The 1.5-percent give-back was Toussaint's idea, and his way of generating money to pay the cost for items in the contract which he refers to as "new benefits."

At the end of the day, the deal would have allowed the MTA to pick $40 million in hard cash from our pockets annually - to add to their growing billion-dollar surplus.

The MTA even boasted of how it made out like bandits with the deal as it helped drive down the $477 million cost for the contract before the strike to only $400 million after the strike - making MTA officials winners in every category, and leaving their surplus untouched.

Local 100 members sent a clear message Jan. 20, when they voted rejecting the contract with a meager pay raise of 10.5 percent over 37 months and the 1.5 percent give-back, but Toussaint refused to recognize our decision.

In Richard Steier's July 21 column, he was correct when he wrote, "... the DC 37 pact compares favorably with the 10.5-percent hike over 37 months TWU Local President Roger Toussaint won last December" and, " ... the value of the DC 37 raises is not diluted by givebacks like the Local 100 clause requiring that members pay 1.5 percent of their earnings toward their health insurance premium." Toussaint and his appointee are way off point.

For Toussaint to disagree with Mr. Steier's views only serves as a reminder of how disconnected Toussaint is from the needs of Local 100 members and labor as a whole.

With the MTA swimming in money year after year, Toussaint needs to get his act together and get us a contract with real wage increases - not give-backs, as the cost of living is through the roof.

At this time, I am reluctant to believe Toussaint is a dunce who needs to take a remedial math and logic course to aid him understanding that MTA's surplus means our members should get a fair share, taking us above the cost of living - not giving back. He needs to stop being a dictator who believes it is his way or the highway - and start listening to the membership. It is not personal; it is just good business.

As one of only four executive board members on our 47-member board to vote rejecting the contract when it was first presented to the board in December, I applaud Local 100 members for rejecting it in January, and all those who worked equally hard to help make it happen. It was the right thing to do for the labor movement. Today we see the MTA with an even bigger surplus, too big to hide. It is time for Toussaint to get us our fair share - not bully us into giving back.

AINSLEY STEWART, Vice President, TWU Local 100