Says Toussaint Gave Order
Station Agent: TWU Had Me Assaulted

By ARI PAUL

A New York City Transit Station Agent is exploring his legal options after Transport Workers Union Local 100 staff members allegedly accosted him on President Roger Toussaint's orders July 26.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: A bit too hands-on?

Station Agent Joe Pollard went to the union's West Side headquarters to pay his dues and attend a division meeting. He claimed that after he paid his dues, he went towards the Stations Division area where the meeting was to be held, and encountered Division Chairwoman Jamel Chisolm, who accused him of not paying dues.

'Grabbed Me'

Mr. Pollard went into the bathroom. When he exited, he claimed, Mr. Toussaint was standing with Ms. Chisolm and asked him if he had paid his dues. Mr. Pollard recalled responding that he didn't know what Mr. Toussaint was talking about and tried to proceed to the meeting. Mr. Toussaint then ordered four union staffers to remove him from the building, he said.

"They started grabbing me," he said. "One young lady said, 'Get him on the floor.'''

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'THEY STARTED GRABBING ME': Station Agent Joe Pollard claims Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint ordered staffers to forcibly remove him from the union's headquarters late last month. According to Mr. Pollard, Mr. Toussaint claimed he ejected him because he hadn't paid dues, although his most recent dues statement showed he was up to date.

Mr. Pollard had a video camera in his bag for use, he said, after the meeting, but that it activated during the incident, recording audio of the proceedings.

In the recording, Mr. Pollard is heard saying, "Don't touch me." After sounds of physically struggle, he said, "You're not taking me nowhere ... I'm just going to my union meeting."

At one point, a defiant Mr. Pollard appears to challenge the assailants, saying, "Touch me. I swear."

A voice with a West Indian accent that Mr. Pollard and another union member claimed was Mr. Toussaint is heard saying, "Out of the building."

Pinned Down

After that, there is the sound of a thud. "Get control of him," the West Indian voice is heard saying.

Mr. Pollard said he slipped from the grasp of one of the men scuffling with him but lost his balance and hit his head on the floor. They picked him up again and put him in the elevator where, he said, one of the men pinned him down with his elbow. Mr. Pollard recalled being dragged out of the building, saying that at one point he grabbed onto a barrier pole and almost thrust it at his assailants, but decided to drop it.

"I was just trying to get them off me," he said. "I was really pissed off."

Police Arrive

A Detective and a Sergeant from the nearby 20th Precinct arrived at the scene and spoke to both Mr. Pollard and Mr. Toussaint. Their report classified the events as harassment, not assault, and considered the case closed.

After the incident, Mr. Pollard went to the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital and was told to see his doctor. His hospital report said he suffered a minor head injury.

A spokesman for Mr. Toussaint did not reply to the allegations. Ms. Chisolm's response was brief. "I don't know what he's talking about," she said of Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Pollard has been a Station Agent in uptown Manhattan and The Bronx for nine years and is a shop steward. He said he went to division meeting on June 28 and requested that members see a report of how dues money was being spent, given that the union lost the right to dues check-off on June 1.

"I just wanted to make it accountable," he said.

He assumed that this proposal raised the ire of the union leadership. While he supported the opposition Rail and Bus slate in the last election, he insisted that he usually stayed out of political struggles within the union and hasn't run for union offices. Opposition leader and Track Inspector John Samuelsen hadn't heard of Mr. Pollard until last week.

Disappointed that the police would not pursue a further criminal investigation into the matter, Mr. Pollard went to the state Department of Labor July 30 to ask what kind of legal action he could take. He is considering suing Mr. Toussaint and the union for damages. He said he is willing to use the audio recordings of the incident on his camcorder as evidence. He has also contacted officials at the TWU International office to assist him in bringing charges against Mr. Toussaint for violating union bylaws.

'Shocked'

Word of Mr. Pollard's allegations spread quickly around the division.

"People are pretty shocked," said one union activist who spoke conditioned on anonymity. He said he had received a phone call about the scuffle from a friend an hour after it happened. "We're kind of in unfamiliar territory with the whole dues-payment thing. All I know is that throwing someone out on their ass is not the way to do things."

The union's leadership has the constitutional authority to bar members in bad standing from union meetings. But Mr. Pollard's most recent dues statement from Local 100 said that not only has he paid dues, but that he has a credit of $7.84. According to the constitution, even if Mr. Pollard had not paid his dues by June 2 - the first working day of the month - he would not officially be in bad standing until 30 days had passed after he received a letter that his dues had not been paid.

Mr. Pollard's colleague felt no matter what Mr. Pollard's dues situation was, the use of force was unnecessary and unprecedented.

"It's kind of an 'On the Waterfront' kind of thing," said the two-decade veteran of NYC Transit, referring to Elia Kazan's 1954 classic film about corruption and violence within the longshoremen's union. "This usually doesn't go on in our local."