TWU Limits Choices

To the Editor:

TWU Local 100's executive board recently adopted new rules governing this fall's union election. The new rules change the definition of "a slate" and, as a result, roll the drive to increase membership participation in the local back 20 years.

When the New Directions slate (the slate on which Roger Toussaint won the presidency in 2000) first ran in 1988, it had candidates for president, recording secretary, five VP positions, and executive board seats in the Train Operator and Car Equipment Divisions. That same year, Ed Watt (the current secretary-treasurer of Local 100) ran for the executive board in TA Surface with one other person as the "Ed Watt Slate." Under the new rules that Toussaint proposed and the executive board adopted, these slates would not have been permitted on the ballot.

In 2003, John Mooney was elected VP of Stations Dept. at the head of a slate that ran only in Stations. Under the new rules, this slate would not have been permitted on the ballot.

These restrictive rules come on top of the article in the local by-laws that prohibits anyone who hasn't attended at least five division or section meetings in the year prior to nominations from running for Division or Section office. Because of this rule, 98 percent of the membership is barred from running in their Division or Section. This isn't Toussaint's rule; he inherited it from previous administrations. But he's had six years to amend the by-laws to remove it and he hasn't done it.

A union administration committed to democracy would open up the political process in the union. It would make it easier, not harder, for members to run for office. Under the Toussaint administration, the election rules have become more and more restrictive as he seeks to limit the choices available to the members.

STEVE DOWNS, Train Operator