Queens TWU Aide Won't Usurp Chair;

Questions Accusations
Queens TWU Aide Won't Usurp Chair

By ARI PAUL

A recently elected vice chairman of Transport Workers Union Local 100's Private Lines Division has chosen not to take extra release time as a gesture of solidarity with dissident Queens Division Chairman Joe Sexton, who has been denied the right to take time off from his regular job to tend to union business by a Local 100 superior.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane HECTOR COMRIE: Cites lack of due progress.

Hector Comrie, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bus Operator at the Baisley Park Depot, was elected Queens Division vice chairman in December. After Private Lines Division Vice President Enzo Sinnona stripped Mr. Sexton of his release time last month, he told division members that he had given Mr. Sexton's duties to Mr. Comrie.

Objects to Ouster

But Mr. Comrie said in a phone interview that he has not taken the full-time release Mr. Sinnona offered him because he thought Mr. Sexton's ouster was unfair. Mr. Sexton, a vocal critic of Mr. Sinnona and Local 100 President Roger Toussaint, had his release time revoked for allegedly disrupting union meetings, using ethnic slurs and using his release time for personal business.

"They did not bring him up on the charges," Mr. Comrie said, arguing that Mr. Sexton should have been given a trial before the removal of the release time.

Mr. Sexton has denied the accusations and filed bylaw charges against Mr. Sinnona, who has not made public who would be taking on Mr. Sexton's responsibilities. Mr. Sexton and Westchester Division Chairman Pete Denicolo have charged that the local is barring them from contract negotiations with MTA Bus in violation of the union's bylaws.

Mr. Comrie added that he thought Mr. Sinnona's administration of the division has not vigorously challenged new work rules that he believed restricted the rights of workers.

"The MTA is just rolling over us there," Mr. Comrie said. "I'm fighting back, but I get no help."