Letters to the Editor
TWU Critic Stymies Himself

To the Editor:

Ainsley Stewart used thousands of words in the Oct. 13 Chief to try to hide his own record. It would take a whole newspaper to answer all of his outlandish claims, but then nobody would read it all. Maybe that's what he wants.

Let me just deal with two points he raises. First, the job of a TWU Local 100 Vice President, then the contract.

Stewart is damned both by what he wrote about his job duties and by what he left out. "The Vice Presidents shall work with the division and section officers to see to it that the policies of the Local Union are carried out in their Division(s)." That's a part of the by-laws. But in three years as vice president of Car Equipment, he refused to see to it that the democratically arrived at "policies of the Local Union" were carried out. He has also consistently refused to work with either division or section officers.

The executive board voted to prepare for the 2005 contract with Days of Action. Where was Ainsley? Roger Toussaint did not stop him from doing his job. He stopped himself.

The Executive Board voted for a No Contract, No Peace Campaign this year. Where was Ainsley? Roger did not stop him. He stopped himself.

Roger Toussaint never stopped Ainsley Stewart from doing what he admits the bylaws commit him to do. He always stops himself, and then blames Roger.

Stewart left out the other part of the TWU Local 100 by-laws which specify the duties of vice presidents. "Local President may assign a Vice-President to additional duties based on the needs of the Local and the Local membership." In Local 100, VPs have always been under the direction of the President. They still are. That's not tyranny. It's the way a democratic union functions.

Ainsley also blows smoke about the contract. Here's what he doesn't want transit workers to think about.

A few weeks from now, members of two ATU locals will be receiving their second annual wage increase under the 2005 transit contract. Not members of Local 100. A few weeks from now, about half those ATU members will be receiving pension refunds worth an average of more than $10,000 a head. Not Local 100 members.

Instead, Local 100 is stuck in a rearguard, defensive action to prevent having the MTA's wish list imposed on us through binding arbitration.

Ainsley Stewart lied up and down about the terms of this contract. Remember his outlandish claim that the 1.5 percent health benefit premium was really 4.5 percent? Now almost everybody knows that 1.5 percent is 1.5 percent. So Stewart runs out a new set of phony numbers in The Chief. This time it is about the value of the contract before, during and after the strike. Just like last time, Stewart thinks that if he repeats a lie often enough, it might get over.

Ainsley wants us to believe that the last three years were all about some titanic battle between him and Roger Toussaint. Talk about an inflated self-image. The transit strike took place because Local 100 had to beat back the 11th-hour MTA pension ambush, not because of Ainsley or Roger. The pension and retiree health benefits assault that private-sector workers have faced for years hit the public sector, with transit workers as the first big New York target.

The MTA went tooth-and-nail after our pension terms, seeking a de facto fifth tier. This would have been a disaster for the next generation of transit workers down the road. And it would have divided our ranks and weakened us right now. Of course we fought back. But Ainsley Stewart didn't. Now he blames Roger for his own absence from a key battle.

All of Ainsley's rantings can't change the fact that for the past three years he has refused to take responsibility for his own inaction. He is a vice president of the union and a member of the executive board, but for three years he has ignored board decisions with the constant refrain, "Roger won't let me do my job." The only person who ever stopped him from doing his job is staring back at him in the mirror. The shame of it all is that transit workers have to suffer for his incompetence.

JOE CAMPBELL, Local 100 Car Maintenance Division Vice Chair, Car Inspectors