Queens Battle Intensifies
TWU VP: Abuses Cost Chair His Job

By ARI PAUL

Transport Workers Union Local 100 Private Lines Division Vice President Enzo Sinnona has broken his silence on why he stripped Queens Division Chairman Joe Sexton of release time, but both Mr. Sexton and another officer denied his accusations that he had behaved disruptively.

SAYS POLITICAL FOE HAD OWN AGENDA: Transport Workers Union Local 100 Vice President Enzo Sinnona said he stripped Queens Private Lines Chairman Joe Sexton of release time to conduct union business because he was neglecting his responsibilities in order to pursue political objectives and was abusive toward both members and the union's leadership.

'Left Me No Option'

Mr. Sexton, a vocal critic of Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and Mr. Sinnona, was removed from release time in early January, although he retains his division chairman title. He has returned to his full-time job as a Bus Operator.

"I have known Joe for 26 years and I had hopes that he would be able to fulfill these much-needed duties as a rep," Mr. Sinnona said in a letter to members last month. "But after he staged repeated disruptions and failed to properly conduct the work, I found myself left with no option but [to] relieve him of this responsibility."

Mr. Sinnona accused Mr. Sexton of using release time for personal business, screaming at members during union meetings and using ethnic slurs. He said that Mr. Sexton, an Irish immigrant who often invokes the leadership of Local 100's Irish-born founder Michael Quill, also insisted that Local 100 should be an exclusively Irish-led union.

'Repeated Complaints'

"Joe had already been removed from his responsibilities on the non-MTA properties in the division because of repeated complaints from the union officers at those properties," Mr. Sinnona said, adding that newly-elected Queens Vice Chairman Hector Comrie would handle claims and hearings. "Joe was taking the time, but he was using it to pursue another agenda."

JOE SEXTON: Sinnona making up charges.

Queens Division Recording Secretary Angel Perez filed bylaw charges against Mr. Sinnona Jan. 14, alleging that the vice president removed Mr. Sexton without cause.

Dueling Stories

"Enzo Sinnona made it clear to me that the decision to remove Joe Sexton from his release time was made solely because [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] Bus management requested that the release time of Joe Sexton be removed," he said in his charges. "On Tuesday Jan. 9, [Mr. Sexton] and I sat down with [Senior Vice President at MTA Bus] Thomas Elkins and were informed that MTA Bus management had nothing to do with the removal."

Mr. Sexton said the accusations in Mr. Sinnona's letter were untrue and added that if the vice president wanted to address those issues, he should have filed bylaw and constitutional charges first rather than suddenly taking him off release time.

"By publicizing these reports he has intentionally smeared and defamed my character to the members of MTA Bus," he said in his bylaw charges.

Mr. Sexton was elected Queens chairman in 2006 on the dissident Fresh Start slate. Along with Westchester Division Chairman Pete Denicolo, he claimed that he has been locked out of contract negotiations with MTA Bus even though the union's bylaws mandate that they be involved in the talks.

"This was a hard decision, but it needed to be made," Mr. Sinnona said. "Our officers need to work together to achieve the members' needs. Release time is a tool for doing this. We cannot afford to waste it, and we cannot afford to be subsidizing disruption of our work."