Report Indicates TWU Dues Fell Short of Claims; Nearly Half Local's Members Haven't Made Payments

By ARI PAUL

Just more than half of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 members at New York City Transit have fully paid their dues and have voting rights, according to the latest LM-2 papers released by the U.S. Department of Labor, contrary to union officials' public claims that 80 percent were voluntarily paying dues.

AINSLEY STEWART: 'A referendum on Toussaint.'

The department March 31 issued the local's latest expense report for 2007 showing that "17,449 members are current with their dues payments and have voting rights" and operated at a $5.5-million loss last year.

Local 100 has 33,700 members at New York City Transit, where it has been without automatic dues deduction since last June 1 as a penalty for its three-day strike in 2005. The union also has more than $3 million in outstanding debts, including nearly $2.5 million to the Transport Workers Union of America and $88,000 to the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council.

Appeal for Restoration

Local 100 petitioned in Brooklyn Supreme Court last fall for restoration of dues checkoff rights with the conditional support of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Justice Bruce Balter in November denied the request, saying Local 100 President Roger Toussaint and the entire executive board must promise not to take the union out on strike again. Local 100 has said this is a violation of free speech and is appealing the decision.

JOHN SAMUELSEN: Dues-refusers self-defeating.

"Here it is: they are not believing they are getting good service," Ainsley Stewart, who ran against Mr. Toussaint in the last election, said of the large percentage of union members not paying their dues. "It is a referendum without a doubt."

In dispatches to its membership, Local 100 had claimed in the last year that at least 62 percent of its members who lost dues check-off were in good standing and that roughly 80 percent had paid some portion of their dues on their own. Various dissident leaders in the union have urged their followers to pay dues and have claimed that Mr. Toussaint has let some political opponents fall into bad standing so he can prevent them from voting against him or holding union offices.

'AIN'T GREAT, BUT NOT A DISASTER': Herman Benson of the Association for Union Democracy said that he was not surprised that barely more than half of Transport Workers Union Local 100's transit members were in good standing, saying that if President Roger Toussaint had been a better leader, more would be paying dues voluntarily.

"It's a misguided protest against Toussaint," said Track Inspector and vocal dissident John Samuelsen. "They're cutting off their nose to spite their face. If they're not in good standing, they can't vote."

Mr. Toussaint's loudest critics, many of whom are former allies, have said that he has undermined the authority of the union's elected officers and has become unwilling to challenge management, which has caused discontent among the members.

Joshua Freeman, a Professor of History at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and author of a book on the origins of Local 100, said there were various reasons for members not to pay dues: there are some who want a "free ride" and others who simply forgot to pay on time.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: A crisis of confidence?

"I think some people are using it as a form of political expression, but I think it's impossible to say what percentage," he said.

On Par With Feds

But Herman Benson of the Brooklyn-based Association for Union Democracy said that the number of members not paying dues wasn't surprising. He noted that Federal workers are not legally compelled to pay dues to their unions, and that 50 percent was a standard rate of actual payment for American Federation of Government Employees members as well as U.S. Postal Service workers.

"I think if he was a great leader, members would be more likely to pay dues," Mr. Benson said of Mr. Toussaint. "For members to voluntarily pay without being compelled to, 50 percent is not a disaster. It ain't great, but it's not a disaster."

Spokesmen for Mr. Toussaint did not respond to requests for comment. TWU of America President James C. Little declined to be interviewed.

Big Consultant Tab

The report to the Labor Department showed that while the union has laid off several staff members during the budget crunch in the last year, it has also spent more than a quarter of a million dollars in security services and more than $95,000 in fees to retain Sunshine Sachs, its public-relations agency. Former Dinkins administration Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch's consulting firm took in $60,000 in fees from the union last year, while Yonkers-based Jose F. Alvarez Associates was paid more than $100,000 for its consulting services.

Local 100 paid $1.3 million last year to rent the Upper West Side headquarters it once owned. It also had to pay an estimated $3 million in capital gains taxes for the building sale because the proceeds were not reinvested in another property, several union sources said.