TWU Dissidents Charge Repression
Past Rebel Called a Dictator

By ARI PAUL

Nearly two dozen Transport Workers Union Local 100 members rallied outside their union's Upper West Side headquarters Aug. 27 to protest the appointment of a vice president for the Private Lines Division in lieu of an election for the post, and other actions by President Roger Toussaint that they branded as power grabs.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'DEMOCRACY NOW!': Transport Workers Union Local 100 dissidents protested against President Roger Toussaint outside the union's headquarters Aug. 27. Members argued that Mr. Toussaint subverted the democratic process by having the executive board appoint a new vice president of the Private Lines Division rather than holding an election.

That afternoon, the union's executive board was expected to appoint a new vice president for the division, which has been without one since April, when acting Vice President Rod Bailey accepted a management position. Members from Private Lines, and the Maintenance of Way (MoW), Stations, and Car Equipment divisions held signs accusing Mr. Toussaint of being a dictator and subverting the union's bylaws and constitution.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang THEY'VE GOT IT IN WRITING: Station Agent Joe Pollard, right, and Cleaner Dwayne Hammonds, who is an elected vice chairman, displayed their receipts for dues payments during a protest outside of Transport Workers Union Local 100 headquarters Aug. 27. Both members had been accused of not paying dues and were forced to leave the building.

"It should be a democratic process, democratic 100 percent," said Bus Operator Daniel Pagan, who was among those calling for an election. "You would think that democracy is a big thing."

Enter Sinnona

The union's leadership has maintained, however, that vice presidents have always been appointed when vacancies have occurred between elections.

Enzo Sinnona, a Bus Operator who is vice chair of the Private Lines Queens Division, was chosen to fill the vacancy.

"Under Local 100 bylaws, there is no grey area on the question of how a vacancy in the office of vice president is filled," Mr. Toussaint said in a letter to members last month. "There is simply no question that the bylaws require it to be filled by executive board appointment regardless of when the vacancy occurs."

Members have argued that the bylaws state that if there is a vacancy in an executive board slot more than 18 months before a general election, a special election must be held. Because a vice president sits on the executive board, they argued, the rule applies to this position. Mr. Toussaint, however, did not see it that way.

Makes Distinction

"A vice president is a local officer as distinct from a division or section officer and serves on the executive board as a local officer as distinct from executive board members who are elected strictly by division members only," Mr. Toussaint said in his letter.

The members also protested Mr. Toussaint's decisions to withhold release time from certain elected officers and instead delegate their duties to paid staffers. Some accused him of negotiating poor contracts for the members, noting that under the current 37-month pact, New York City Transit workers must contribute 1.5 percent of their earnings to their medical plan.

"The number one threat to this union is Roger," said Thomas Creegan, the chairman of the Power Division, which is within MoW.

Arrest Threat

Station Agent Joe Pollard, who claimed he was physically ejected from the union hall in July for not paying dues - his records showed that he had - attended the rally. Local 100 Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt Aug. 23 told Cleaner Dwayne Hammonds, a vice chair in his division, that he could not enter the union hall because he was in bad standing and that he would be arrested if he came in, even if he tried to pay his dues. Mr. Hammonds, who ran on the Rail and Bus slate opposed to Mr. Toussaint, paid his dues by personal check in the lobby during the rally without police intervention.

Mr. Hammonds said that many members had not paid their dues because they were unhappy with the leadership, and that many members did not know how Local 100's finances were being handled. He was skeptical of the union's ability to accurately track its finances, noting that upon paying dues, members received hand-written receipts that did not definitively indicate they were from Local 100. The union lost automatic dues check-off rights for at least three months starting June 1 as a result of its illegal, three-day strike in December of 2005. Mr. Pollard had called for a public report of the union's finances given the loss of dues check-off at a Stations Division meeting before his altercation with union staffers.

'Broke in 2 Years'

"The union is going to be broke in two years," Mr. Hammonds said. "It's a hot ghetto-ass mess."

At one point, union staffer Ademola Oyefeso, who Mr. Pollard said physically assaulted him in July, came out of the building and mocked the protesters by waving his hand in their faces. Mr. Oyefeso declined to speak to this newspaper.

Mr. Toussaint was elected president in 2000 on the dissident New Directions slate. Known as a progressive activist and a captivating orator, he gained popularity within the union as a Track Division chairman who criticized the moderate approach toward management of then-Local 100 President Willie James and NYC Transit's aggressive supervisory policies. Chris Silvera, the secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 808, which represents track workers at Metro-North Railroad, called Mr. Toussaint a "brilliant trade unionist."

But he has changed, said Ainsley Stewart, a TWU International vice president who unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Toussaint for president last December.

'Betrayed His Past'

"Roger has gone back on everything he stood for in the past," said Mr. Stewart. "He's kept everything in secrecy. We have no input whatsoever. He wants to limit our aspirations. He wants to contain us, so to speak. He's alienated all the real activists that intimidate the Transit Authority. I think he serves the interests of the Transit Authority more than the members."

Mr. Stewart addressed the crowd of protesters, especially the Private Lines members who were calling for an election, saying that Mr. Toussaint would only give in to members' demands if they took their issues to court, because only an outside entity could compel him to act.

"You've got to go legal," he said. "And you've got to go public."