Track Safety Politics

To the Editor:

Joel Fredericson dishonors the memory of the Track Workers who were killed on the job (May 18 letter). He says that previous administrations "never dared play politics with safety," then spends more than 1,000 words doing just that. He should be ashamed of himself.

Fredericson says there were no deaths on the tracks when he was Track Safety vice-chairman. He leaves out who the Track Safety chairman was - Roger Toussaint. Then he blames Toussaint for deaths after Toussaint became president. John Samuelsen was track chair for the next six years, with Pat Lynch as a vice chair. But Fredericson is not interested in analyzing what happened. His sole purpose is launching a political attack on Toussaint.

Fredericson claims credit for what other people did when things went well and assigns blame to people he doesn't like when things don't go well. That is mean-spirited and dishonest.

Fredericson's story of the efforts for track safety regulations is similarly slanted. It is loud and clear on how noble he and his friends were, and how everybody else lacks their courage. So he omits the efforts his crew has no part in. He curiously leaves out the fact that track safety was a centerpiece of Local 100's Lobby Day this year. Perhaps it is because Samuelsen and Lynch did not join the more-than 800 members who showed up and called Albany's attention to dangers on the tracks before the recent deaths.

The election is over, though it seems this is hard for some people in Local 100 to accept. Joel Fredericson worked to defeat Roger Toussaint and he failed. Using the tragedy on the tracks as an excuse for an attack on Roger Toussaint's management style is simply inexcusable. Fredericson is so bitter that he has lost any sense of decency. A Track Worker, even a retired one, who would say that Toussaint has blood on his hands has gone way over the line. Fredericson owes the families and every Track Worker an apology.

PERCIVAL THOMAS, Track Worker