Waiting for Roger

To the Editor:

Kudos to Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, the more-than 100 lawmakers and just about everyone except, of course, the leadership of TWU Local 100 (Roger Toussaint and MTA Board Member Ed Watt) for halting the fare hike. The public has been abandoned by this TWU leadership, but not by all the elected officers. The majority of transit workers realized that Roger and Ed were spineless when they sold out their union members during the strike.

Look at the leverage the small union stagehands Local One is working with! Local One came prepared with a strike fund and dug in with a true labor leader, Local One's James Claffey. Claffey is standing up for his members, whereas the MTA broke Roger like a twig. Look at the leverage of the stagehands' contract expiration date and remember the TWU had that leverage until Roger and Ed sold out their members by coming back from a strike with less.

Not only did they cave in, but gutless Roger also moved the TWU's contract date from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15, thus giving away this great union's leverage for nothing. Roger and his sellout partner Ed also saddled the members with their first-time ever health-plan contribution of 1.5307 percent and forever escalating "Toussaint Tax."

The only thing our phony labor leader was able to accomplish was the hiring of a high-priced Hollywood public relations firm. This firm took to Roger because of his "Oscar" for having acted as a labor leader. The only thing to show for this enormous waste of members' money is that the destruction of TWU was done by none other than Roger the traitor. No other entity did more damage to this once-great militant union than the "Roger and Ed Show."

JOHN CHIARELLO, LES Division Recording Secretary (Elected), TWU Local 100