FOR THE RECORD

The Federal indictment charging that Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 President Sal Battaglia took payoffs in return for not organizing some school bus companies involves the labor movement's equivalent of a capital crime.

The possibility that the local would be banished from union circles here, however, was headed off by the belated decision by the International ATU to place the local under trusteeship, a spokesman for State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes said Nov. 22.

According to a couple of sources, previous revelations about Local 1181's connections to the Genovese Crime Family had been embarrassing enough that Mr. Hughes had raised the subject of a trusteeship with the Washington-based International TWU. He had not, however, threatened to ban the local from the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council, on which he serves as chairman of the board, and the subject had not come up at the most recent CLC meeting, according to his spokesman.

"With what's just transpired," said the spokesman, Mario Cilento, referring to the trusteeship, "the State AFL-CIO and the Central Labor Council are going to be working even more closely with the local from here on out." The subject of taking kickbacks to refrain from insisting on union labor is a touchy one these days for the CLC, since that is one of the many criminal charges pending against its deposed president, Brian McLaughlin, under an indictment brought in October by the same U.S. Attorney's Office that indicted Mr. Battaglia.

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While we're on the subject of Mr. Battaglia, it strikes us that his lawyer might have a case to argue for a change of venue merely based on the local media coverage of the indictment's tagging him with the nickname "Hot Dogs."

It may not be as catchy as "Vinny Gorgeous," "Sammy the Bull" or our personal favorite, "Applehead," but this sort of monicker tends to create a presumption on the part of the public that someone is a gangster. Few selfrespecting white-collar criminals get saddled with such nicknames, and as the late Kenneth Lay, dubbed "Kenny Boy" by his old friend President Bush, might tell us if he were still around, jurors seem to look askance at those who are "also known as."

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Transport Workers' Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint will tell Bronx Community College's Business Club why he became a labor activist and explain the not-always-delicate art of union/management relations Nov. 30 at noon.

His speech will be held in Gould Memorial Library on the campus of BCC, which is at West 181st St., and University Ave. He is appearing as part of the Business Club's guest speaker program.

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A spokesman for State Comptroller Alan Hevesi last week vehemently denied that the delayed payments to state Correctional Officers were politically motivated, as the union representing those employees has claimed.

"It's absolutely untrue to suggest that payments are being held up for any reason other than a difficult technical problem," said David Neustadt, a spokesman for the Comptroller. "We want to get people their money as quickly as we can."

The New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association has alleged that Mr. Hevesi has purposely delayed paying "inconvenience pay" to officers who work evening and night shifts. NYSCOPBA President Larry Flanagan claimed that the Comptroller's Office started ignoring his calls after he instructed officers to vote against Mr. Hevesi in the Nov. 7 election. (Mr. Hevesi won a new term by a sizable margin.)

Mr. Neustadt, however, categorically denied that was the case, noting that the complicated calculations are being worked on by the Department of Correctional Services and the Governor's Office of Employee Relations.

Based on an arbitration decision issued last April, many of the union's 23,000 members are entitled to an hourly "inconvenience pay," which has added up to several thousand dollars for individuals working those tours.