TWU Suffered Long Enough

More than a year has passed since Transport Workers Union Local 100 lost its dues check-off rights as a court-imposed penalty for the illegal three-day transit strike in December 2005.

Some perspective on the severity of this penalty is provided by the 1980 transit strike's aftermath - Local 100 lost its automatic dues-deduction mechanism through members' paychecks for slightly more than four months in 1982. In that case, the walkout lasted 11 days.

The disproportionate sanctions are the consequence of two decisions. One was that of a conservative Brooklyn judge, who last November refused to restore dues check-off even though the injured party, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, recommended doing so on a conditional basis. Although the judge, Bruce Balter, ruled that the Bloomberg administration had no standing to argue in the case, he wound up adopting its recommendation that the union not regain its dues rights until all its officers vowed that they would not strike again.

Local 100 then opted to appeal that ruling on First Amendment grounds. Such cases tend to go on for a while, and here we are seven months later with no resolution in sight.

It would have been more practical for the union to make the same argument that got its dues rights restored sooner than expected after the 1980 strike: that continued loss of automatic deduction could irreparably harm its ability to serve members. Local 100 President Roger Toussaint has already proven beyond a reasonable doubt, however, that he is a man of stubborn pride, and throwing the union upon the mercy of a court in that manner is clearly not acceptable to him.

The result, however, has been a steady draining of the union's assets, as roughly half the rank and file has refused to pay dues - apparently as a misguided way of expressing discontent with the contract that resulted from the strike. The union was provided something of a financial cushion by the sale of its West End Ave. headquarters for $60 million - a deal that was agreed to shortly before the walkout. But it's bad business practice to be running through the proceeds of that sale rather than using it to buy a new building, and the recent re-sale of the space for more than $31 million the union received two years ago underscores that in boldface.