Paranoia Hurts TWU

To the Editor:

The attacks on elected union officers by management are to be expected, but from the president of one's own union it is shameful. Roger Toussaint is doing exactly the same things to our elected officers now as was done to him almost 15 years ago.

I voted for the One Union Slate in the last election, because I believed Toussaint had a vision and the courage to move our union forward. Roger may still have a vision of a socially active union, but he lacks the courage. He fears differences of opinion, or is it that he thinks we are too stupid to be trusted with democracy?

In the Track Division, presidential appointees replace elected officers. Many of these appointees lost in the last election.

Roger, why at a time when our union needs all of its financial resources, did you hire others to do what our elected officers could be doing? As for the matter of John Samuelsen, whom will you appoint to represent his co-workers? Did they also make a mistake that you will now try to correct?

Shop stewards are the backbone of any union; they are the ones who members see every day. They're the ones the bosses see every day. Members are capable of deciding for themselves whom they want representing them. John Samuelsen's letter did not discourage people from paying their dues; it demanded that they pay their dues regardless of whom they voted for or how they felt about the current leadership.

Roger often criticizes his political rivals for playing politics. It seems that all that is done or not done is to gain advantage in the next election. This paranoia is crippling our division and the union as a whole. We can't fight a war on two fronts and win. Our fight is against those who are stripping us of our rights of collective bargaining, health benefits, real wage increases and retirements. We need a leader, not a paranoid dictator.

THOMAS McMANUS, Shop Steward, Track Division, TWU Local 100