Letters to the Editor
Toussaint Undermines TWU

To the Editor:

Richard Steier's July 27 column was both enlightening and accurate. Roger Toussaint would have you believe he has not made a single mistake in his more-than 6-1/2 years as president of TWU Local 100.

I remember Roger and his minions throwing out three vice presidents from the contract negotiating process. All of us witnessed on Channel 4 a vice president being thrown to the ground while screaming, "No secret deals." How right he was.

Look at the sell-out contract we've been burdened with. Don't forget the phony arbitration. In arbitration you win some and lose some. The contract doesn't stay the same. The lame contract and phony track safety bill will set transit workers back at least a decade. How will we be able to remove the sell out 1.54-percent health-care "Toussaint tax?" What will we have to trade?

In the Razzle Dazzle column we learned the leading civil service newspaper in New York City was unable to get answers on the percentage of dues-paying members. Roger's staff bulldozed their questions. Now The Chief has experienced first-hand the frustration of transit workers.

If the freedom of the press cannot get answers out of this dictatorship, what chance does a lowly transit worker have of getting an answer from the mighty president? Thirty-six thousand transit workers want to know where their money from the sale of the union hall is invested and at what rate of return. If the union hall was sold in 2005, how come no transit worker knows where their money is?

It goes to show Ed Watt is complicit. Watt has a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard transit workers' money; not hide it. Where is Ed Watt, the treasurer of this union, during this loss of automatic dues collection crisis? We know he is staying out of sight so he can build support for a run for the top. Who's he kidding? He either supported or sat back and did nothing during the destruction of TWU power.

Transit workers would also like to know why $10,000 a month is going to heavyweight Hollywood publicity agents. What are Hollywood agents doing for transit workers? If they are working solely for Roger and Ed, then let them pay them or at least tell the transit workers what we're getting for our money. The accountability of this administration looks a lot like Arthur Andersen. Roger may have political aspirations; let him go wherever he wants - just get him out of here. Toussaint and Watt have damaged us enough.

Congratulations to the sanitation workers, UFOA and even the transit supervisors for delivering decent contracts. We, the TWU, will once again be a force to be reckoned with once we remove the head. We have to once again come together under a uniter and remove Roger the divider.

THOMAS CREEGAN, Chairman, Power Distribution, TWU Local 100