Letters to the Editor
Toussaint Still Playing Politics

To the Editor:

How low we have gone. First our contract vote was thrown in the garbage. Then our election votes were ignored. Those who were crushed in the elections were placed on staff.

Now we have John Samuelsen to thank for informing the Maintenance Of Way workers that the emergency alarm boxes, which control power to the third rail, are non-functional. We had to find out about it in the newspapers because our president was hiding that fact even while the safety stand-downs were going on and no one from Maintenance Of Way was aware of the faulty alarm boxes.

Roger Toussaint quite simply has gone corporate. He is now the joint face of the MTA. I did not see either of the TWU's safety directors at either fatality. What exactly are their jobs?

Why is Toussaint throwing out the elected officers of Maintenance Of Way who ran against him from the Board of Inquiry into Daniel Boggs's untimely death? Why is the division chair of track not allowed at the inquiry of a track fatality?

I do give credit to Howard Roberts for opening doors to the transit workers. However, he's only hearing what Toussaint wants to spin as he squashes all dissent. If Roberts want to really know how transit workers feel or about safety conditions, he should speak to the elected officers who were selected by the majority in their respective sections or divisions. This letter comes after I was denied a role representing third rail on an emergency alarm committee despite being the third rail chairman. This is politics as usual under the Toussaint dictatorship.

THOMAS CREEGAN, Power Distribution (Third Rail), TWU Local 100