Allege Toussaint Trumps Up Rap To Punish Foe; Injured Worker Says Union Rep Acted Appropriately

By ARI PAUL

Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint threatened Aug. 20 to cease granting release time to perform union duties to one of his most vocal in-house critics, Power Division Chairman Thomas Creegan.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane POLITICS OR SUBSTANCE? Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint (left) has accused the union's Power Division Chairman, Thomas Creegan, of failing to properly represent an injured member in late July. Mr. Creegan, whose actions were defended by the injured worker, insisted he carried out his duties and claimed Mr. Toussaint was harassing him for criticizing his policies on numerous occasions.

Mr. Toussaint claimed that Mr. Creegan did not fulfill his duties as a union representative for a member injured on the job July 29. Mr. Creegan countered that the Local 100 leader's threat was an attempt to defang his opposition.

Aided Burned Worker

Power Distribution Maintainer James Schaeffer was burned during a work accident that caused his body to catch fire at the Cypress Hills station in Queens on the J line that evening, and was taken to Jamaica Hospital. Local 100's Division of Maintenance of Way (MoW) Acting Vice President Charles Ayala called Mr. Creegan and instructed him to go the hospital to represent him. At the time, Mr. Creegan claimed, he was the only official from the 1,050-member division on release time.

Mr. Creegan arrived at the hospital and aided the member, with New York City Transit officials present as well. He then received a phone call from a Superintendent saying that he was interviewing the members of Mr. Schaeffer's work gang at an office at the Hoyt St. station in Brooklyn on the 2/3 line. Mr. Creegan did not want those members interviewed without representation. At that same point, the hospital staff told him that Mr. Schaeffer would be transferred to the Burn Unit of Staten Island University Hospital.

Mr. Creegan faced a dilemma: Should he stay with the member or proceed to Hoyt St.? Eventually, he told the Superintendent to halt the interviews until he arrived at the office, and he complied, according to Mr. Creegan. Knowing that Mr. Schaeffer would be without union representation, Mr. Creegan reminded him to remain silent if NYC Transit managers asked him any questions, and said that if there was a problem to call him. Still disoriented from the fire, Mr. Schaeffer told Mr. Creegan that he understood. Mr. Creegan called Mr. Schaeffer several times later that night after he had arrived at the Staten Island hospital.

'Did My Best'

"I did the greatest job imaginable," Mr. Creegan said. "At no point in time was this member ever spoken to without a union representative."

Mr. Toussaint did not agree.

"It has been brought to my attention that when you were told by Acting Vice President, of [Maintenance of Way], Charles Ayala to accompany injured PDM Schaeffer from Jamaica Hospital to the Burn Unit Hospital in Staten Island you ignored those instructions and allowed his transfer to take place without [a] union representative present," Mr. Toussaint wrote to Mr. Creegan Aug. 20. "This was irresponsible and unacceptable, especially while on release time and inexcusable for a chair. No further release time will be allowed unless we are assured by you that there will not be a reoccurrence."

Mr. Creegan saw the situation as a Catch-22. He was the only official from the Power Division on release time, as the co-chair, Anthony Utano, was on vacation, and neither the union's night safety office nor Mr. Ayala had sent another official.

'Where Was Ayala?'

"Why is Ayala on release time, on staff and a vice president and he did not send a union representative to the inquisition?" said Mr. Creegan. "Everybody knows when there's an accident the gang gets interviewed. So who did he send? Or does he take care of every division but Power?"

Mr. Schaeffer defended Mr. Creegan.

"I think he handled the situation fine," said Mr. Schaeffer, who sustained burns on his forearms and face. "It was a field decision. In the military, a general gives you an order to take the hill, but meanwhile the enemy is in the forest; you have to go to where the enemy is."

Mr. Ayala received complaints about a lack of release time for officials to assist Power Division members. In June, he wrote to Mr. Utano: "As you already know it has been established that night representation [will] assist any TWU member in good standing and I will make every effort to do the same for all TWU Local 100 members in MoW."

Mr. Ayala said that Mr. Creegan "refused" to accompany the injured worker.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Creegan does not fully comprehend his duties as a union representative to assist members in all five boroughs," Mr. Ayala wrote to Mr. Utano Aug. 24. "I feel strongly that Mr. Creegan must be removed from his current position."

Vocal Critic

A Power Distribution Maintainer and an eight-year veteran of NYC Transit, Mr. Creegan is an outspoken critic of Mr. Toussaint's administration and ran in last December's election on the opposition Rail and Bus United slate.

The case mirrors a similar event in June when Mr. Toussaint declared that he would not authorize Track Inspector and opposition leader John Samuelsen to be a shop steward, despite being chosen by his work gang.

A letter co-signed by Mr. Samuelsen had circulated throughout the union telling members that they had the obligation to pay dues, but that it came "with the understanding that the union's leadership is not abusing the union's finances." A Local 100 spokesman had said that this violated the union's bylaws because it was putting conditions on paying dues, which was tantamount to discouraging members from paying dues. Mr. Samuelsen is still performing his duties as shop steward.

Staff Usurping Role

Local 100 Track Division Chairman Carlos Albert, also of the opposition, has said that Mr. Toussaint has delegated his duties as an elected chair to paid staffers, undermining his authority. Mr. Toussaint claimed that Mr. Albert had failed to submit a report on what MoW Division chairmen had provided to members during their release time, which they had been ordered to do.

"When he was called into the [union hall], the chair [of the Track Division] booked out sick and has been out ever since," Mr. Toussaint wrote to MoW members last month. "The release time slot he had been occupying has been filled while he is out by another elected officer from the division." Mr. Albert, Mr. Creegan and Mr. Samuelsen claimed that Mr. Toussaint's actions were politically motivated. Both the Track and Power Divisions fall under MoW, where the opposition movement is significant despite the fact that Mr. Toussaint gained popularity in the 1990s for being a militant and progressive Track Division chairman. He was elected Local 100 president in 2000.

Won't Back Down

Mr. Creegan said he would not apologize or give any kind of assurance that he would not repeat such actions, as he believed he did nothing wrong. He anticipated that this would mean he would have his release time discontinued.

In a letter to Mr. Toussaint Aug. 24, Mr. Schaeffer expressed his support for Mr. Creegan, saying that he was adequately represented the evening of his accident.

"I feel my best interests were served by him being there," he wrote. "It is with great consternation that you would leave our department without a release-time representative over this."