Claim Political Motive
Say TWU Head Not Offering Dues Data

By ARI PAUL

Two chairmen in Transport Workers Union Local 100's Maintenance of Way Division claim that President Roger Toussaint has refused to give them lists of their members who have not paid dues, with one charging that he was trying to keep political foes from retaining the right to vote in union elections.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang 'HE'S GOING OVERBOARD': Transport Workers Union Local 100 Power Division Chairman Anthony Utano claims that union president Roger Toussaint has refused to give him a list of which members have not paid dues. The refusal, Mr. Utano said, leaves him unable to collect dues or bar members in bad standing from division activities.

Power Division Chairman Anthony Utano arrived at the union's Upper West Side headquarters Sept. 24 to drop off $1,600 in members' dues money, he said, when he asked union staffer Ademola Oyefeso for a list of division members who hadn't paid dues. Mr. Oyefeso told him that by Mr. Toussaint's order he was not entitled to it, because Mr. Utano had signed a letter that, while encouraging members to pay dues, had implicitly questioned the spending practices of the leadership of the union.

'Going Overboard'

Mr. Utano insisted that since Mr. Toussaint wanted chairmen to bar members in bad standing from division meetings, he would need the list. He also told Mr. Oyefeso that the list was necessary so he could get more members to pay dues. According to the chairman, Mr. Oyefeso reiterated that orders were orders.

"I think he's going overboard with this," Mr. Utano said of Mr. Toussaint, who has had stormy relations with several union officials in Maintenance of Way. "I was around in the '80s when we lost the check-off. We never had a problem getting the information."

4 Months Minus Right

Track Division Chairman Carlos Albert has encountered similar resistance.

"To date, Toussaint has refused to provide the elected Track chairman as well as the Track Division executive committee with the names of Track Division members who are in bad standing due to the failure to pay dues," Mr. Albert said in bylaw and constitutional charges against Mr. Toussaint Sept. 19. "In doing so, Toussaint is deliberately and maliciously interfering with our ability to run the affairs of Track Division."

Local 100 has been without automatic check-off, under which dues are deducted from each member's paycheck, since June 1 as a result of its illegal three-day strike in 2005. It has had since Sept. 1 to petition to have it reinstated but has yet to do so. Mr. Toussaint this spring made the "Save Our Union" campaign, an organizing drive to get members to pay dues by alternate means, the local's top priority.

Mr. Toussaint reported in the Local 100 newsletter last month that a majority of New York City Transit workers have paid dues in the last three months on their own.

"As of this writing, dues check-off has not been restored," he wrote. "It is impossible to say whether or when this will happen. We must move forward into the next phase of the challenge as though restoration is not on the horizon. Everyone must continue to pay dues."

Politically Motivated?

The union can't meet that goal, Mr. Utano said, unless chairmen have lists of who paid and who hasn't. He could think of only one reason why Mr. Toussaint would withhold the lists. Many of Mr. Toussaint's critics, Mr. Utano speculated, have not paid dues in protest, making them ineligible to vote in union elections or participate in union meetings. Mr. Toussaint wanted to keep those members in bad standing so they could not actively oppose him, Mr. Utano said.

Local 100 spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment.

"It's not about saving the union; it's about saving Roger," Mr. Utano said of the local's dues-collection campaign. "This is information he should be giving everybody."