Part of TWU Infighting
Bronx Bus Workers Beef Over Seniority

By ARI PAUL

After Transport Workers Union Local 100 and NYC Transit management agreed on a plan to commingle Local 100 TA Surface and Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority bus workers in 2000, then-Local 100 TA Surface Division Vice President Amin Khan promised three years later that there would be "no loss of seniority for anyone."

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Trying to calm waters.

But for many of the several dozen TA Surface workers at the Zerega Ave. bus maintenance facility in The Bronx, originally designated for a commingling of the two divisions, it is a promise unfulfilled, in part a casualty of the political infighting that has plagued the union.

TA Shorted on Seniority

TA Surface workers are discriminated against when it comes to seniority, several workers said. According to these workers, there are 38 TA Surface workers and 203 from MaBSTOA, and if a TA Surface Worker has 20 or 30 years on the job, that worker constantly sees a MaBSTOA worker with fewer years get preference for overtime, days off etc. On top of that, TA Surface workers complained that a group of MaBSTOA workers routinely harasses and bullies them on the job.

'DISAPPOINTED': Bus Maintainer Robert Keith alleges that he and other TA Surface workers are discriminated against when it comes to seniority at the Zerega Ave. bus maintenance facility in The Bronx. The majority of workers there are employed by the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority.

"They want that building for themselves," said Robert Keith, a TA Surface Bus Maintainer since 1985, now working at the Zerega facility.

When commingling commenced in 2000, then-Vice President of NYC Transit's Department of Buses Millard Seay wrote Local 100 saying, "It is understood that at any commingled facility, the employees from both Authorities will work and be assigned as one workforce without consideration as to whether they are TA or [MaBSTOA] employees."

Things changed in 2002, workers explained, when the union and management settled on a contract agreement and scrapped commingling for consolidation.

Union Grievance

In early 2005, TA Surface workers filed a grievance concerning the seniority issue. That June, Ralph Agritelley, then the Vice President of Labor Relations at NYC Transit, wrote to Local 100 President Roger Toussaint, outlining the implementation of a "June 21 Arbitration Award" concerning the consolidation.

"Overtime will be assigned by management from a single seniority list based upon the TA Rule of time in title," Mr. Agritelley wrote. "To the extent that seniority is utilized to select work assignments (other than "the pick") e.g. selecting among available work assignments from absentee and vacation relief jobs in Security, seniority will be based upon time in title as is the practice in the Transit Authority."

But as multiple TA Surface workers explained, Thomas Lenane, the chairman of Local 100's MaBSTOA Maintenance Division, and officials from the union's TA Surface Division urged management not to implement the decision.

"He can stall, double-talk, back-track and intimidate," TA Surface Bus Maintainer Matthew Galcik said of Mr. Lenane.

'He Thinks He's God'

Little changed for the next two years, he added. Last month, Mr. Galcik filed another grievance, he said, and was told by union officials that Mr. Lenane would block grievances on these issues.

"We're trying to be as fair as possible, but they don't want to hear it," said Daniel Cannatella, a shop steward for TA Surface Bus Maintainers at the Zerega facility. "Tommy Lenane thinks he's God."

Mr. Lenane could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Cannatella met with the union's MaBSTOA Division officials, including Mr. Lenane, on July 2. They agreed, according to Mr. Cannatella, that there would be one temporary super-seniority list from which MaBSTOA workers would get job picks and vacation days before TA Surface workers.

"It's disappointing," said Mr. Keith.

Mr. Cannatella believed the settlement was necessary in order to get "the ball rolling." Eventually, he would like to see MaBSTOA workers get seniority based on their time in maintenance and TA Surface workers get it based on time in title.

Met With Toussaint

The day after the meeting, according to several workers, the vice presidents of the union's MaBSTOA and TA Surface divisions met with Mr. Toussaint to come to a consensus.

Local 100 TA Surface Vice President Stephan Thomas said he did not know anything about the seniority issues at the Zerega Ave. facility. The union's MaBSTOA vice president, Brian Clarke, was not available for comment.

Mr. Galcik claimed that for years preceding the union's 2006 elections, the leadership of the TA Surface Division was preoccupied with trying to unseat Mr. Toussaint. A vocal supporter of the president, he said the members voted in a new slate aligned with the current Local 100 regime in the last election, and he is confident that they can make progress alleviating the seniority issue.

"He was very honest to new working people," said Mr. Galcik of Mr. Toussaint. "This new TA Surface slate is working with Roger Toussaint, not against him."

He's not surprised by management's encouragement of the infighting, and is considering taking legal action against NYC Transit. He is, however, incensed that TA Surface workers had filed grievances and won awards but that his division's leadership, until recently, decided to overlook the problem.

"They allowed our seniority to be discriminated against," he said. "My civil service rights are being trampled upon."