Critic Challenges Toussaint
TWU Release-Time War Goes National

By ARI PAUL

One of Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint's most prominent in-house critics appealed Sept. 23 to the TWU of America to veto his recommended policy on employer-paid release time, claiming it was politically motivated.

JOHN SAMUELSEN: 'Toussaint violating bylaws.'

In his appeal letter, Track Inspector John Samuelsen alleged that Mr. Toussaint's recommendation that filling union positions on New York City Transit release should be the responsibility of the division vice president, which the Local 100 executive board adopted, violated the local's bylaws.

'Backfills Are VP's Call'

"The vice president, assisting the president and subject to the approval of the president, shall be responsible for backfills for release-time positions when the person regularly holding the position is out," Mr. Toussaint said in a letter to Local 100's executive board Aug. 24.

Mr. Samuelsen, a former ally of Mr. Toussaint, maintained that the power to assign release-time duties rested with the division chairmen and the division committee who govern their respective divisions under the vice president.

"This policy is in violation of the TWU Local 100 bylaws, Article XXIV (B), which clearly states that the elected division executive committees shall administer the affairs of their respective divisions," Mr. Samuelsen said in his appeal letter. "Certainly, deciding who will be released to represent the members of each division falls within the task of 'administering the affairs' of that division."

But Mr. Toussaint countered in his memo that, "Certainly, there is no bylaw provision that specifies that release-time appointments must be made by the division executive committee."

The union president said the bylaws are vague and speculated that "these provisions may actually have been written before there were [NYC Transit]-paid release-time provisions."

A Changed Stance?

Mr. Samuelsen called this a flip-flop of bylaw interpretation for Mr. Toussaint from when he was the union's Track Division chairman in the 1990s. In a letter in January of 1998 Mr. Toussaint wrote, "All future release-time assignments are to be made by the committee, over the signature of the chairperson. The assignment of duties to release-time officers is the responsibility of the chairperson."

Mr. Samuelsen said that the change was a power-grab on Mr. Toussaint's part. The Division of Maintenance of Way (MoW) is a hotbed of anti-Toussaint discontent. Mr. Toussaint has threatened to withhold release time from Power Division Chairman and vocal critic Thomas Creegan. Track Division Chairman Carlos Albert has been without release time since he went on sick leave and has returned to track work, according to Mr. Samuelsen. The acting MoW vice president is Charles Ayala, a Toussaint supporter.

"Toussaint's eloquently written letter from 1998 is in fact the correct position on release-time appointments," Mr. Samuelsen said in his appeal. "He clearly understands that the division committees enjoy the right of deciding who receives management-paid release time. His new 'revised' position is purely the production of his desire to hamstring the three division committees (Track, Power and Line Equipment and Signals) who are critical of his dictatorial administration. I ask the international union [to] reverse this wrong decision of the Local 100 executive board."