Promotes Into Management
TWU Front-Runner Knocks Himself Out

By ARI PAUL

Rod Bailey loomed as the front-runner in a prolonged race for a vice-presidential post at Transport Workers Union Local 100 until he committed political suicide by accepting a promotion late last month.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Switch could help him.

As this newspaper appears on the stands May 22, the union was set to do a final count for six races in the Westchester Division of Private Lines that have been unresolved since last December, when President Roger Toussaint was re-elected. About 900 Division members were inadvertently left out of the original Division voting, leading to a re-run election.

Moving Up, Moving Out

Mr. Bailey led his opponents for vice president of the Division, John Day and Neil Winberry, by about 500 votes back then, and nearly 900 new ballots went out to union members for Tuesday's vote count. Mr. Bailey moved into a management-level position as of April 30, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed, making him ineligible to be in the bargaining unit.

Despite his move to management, the vote count with him on the ballot was to take place as planned, said Barbara Deinhardt, the neutral monitor in the election.

"If Rod announces that he's management, then there's a vacancy and we have a new election," said Arthur Schwartz, general counsel for the union. "It is highly unlikely he won't be the winner."

His occupancy of the position would have given Rail and Bus United control of three of the union's seven vice-presidential seats. In addition to Mr. Toussaint, the other elected executive officers are Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt and Recording Secretary Darlyne Lawson, all of the One Union slate.

'Can't Do Both Jobs'

"Any Local 100 member is of course free to seek promotion to management," Mr. Toussaint wrote in a letter dated May 1 to members of the Division. "But obviously you cannot be a union officer and a management trainee at the same time. Nor, should an officer actively seek a job in management while he or she is still an officer. If management encourages this, they are union-busting."

Mr. Bailey was not available for comment. The Private Lines Division represents nearly 3,500 workers in Westchester and Queens, according to David Katzman, a spokesman for the union.

Local 100 expected to conclude the five other races within the Division on Tuesday as well. Many of the union members who did not receive ballots in December were school bus drivers whose names and addresses were not added to the voting lists until last August, said Ms. Deinhardt.