Claims Racist Mockery
TWU Leader: Foe 'Went Ape' on Me

By ARI PAUL

Transport Workers Union Local 100's leadership hit back March 31 at two nonwhite Power Division officers who defended a white colleague against accusations of making racist gestures at President Roger Toussaint.

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Steps up Creegan attack.

The union responded to a letter in which Power Division reps Richard Holly and Anthony Osorio blasted Mr. Toussaint for "inject[ing] race into the equation as a means of focusing the members' attention away from the issues at hand" during a division meeting last month. During the meeting Mr. Toussaint, a Trinidadian immigrant, had insisted that division Chairman Thomas Creegan, a vocal dissident and supporter of likely presidential challenger John Samuelsen, had made racially provocative "chimp-like" gestures towards him during a meeting last May.

Hostile and a Laggard

The union's statement last month claimed that Mr. Holly was a factionalist who was "hostile to this administration" and was removed from his post on the International Executive Board for falling behind in his dues payments.

THOMAS CREEGAN: 'An act of desperation.'

"He apparently blames the local for this removal, rather than himself," the letter said.

The union also rejected the two officials' claims in the letter that Mr. Creegan did not harbor any racial prejudice.

"If you disagree, fine. If you don't like President Toussaint, fine," the letter said. "But there are some things that step over the bounds. This is America, and we all know what it means when a white heckler makes 'chimp-like' noises at a black speaker."

It was subsequently learned that Mr. Toussaint back in 1990 was found guilty by an arbitrator of directing racial epithets at a white supervisor.

Accusing Mssrs. Osorio and Holly of being "consumed by their personal political agenda," the Local 100 statement said that Mr. Creegan's alleged "behavior is indefensible" and "not simply an affront to the speaker; it is an affront to every TWU member."

Says He Was Disrespected

Calling the letter libelous, Mr. Creegan denied making the noises. He contended that at last May's meeting of union officers at the New York City Transit building at 130 Livingston St. on track safety, he asked the union president whom Power Distribution Maintainers should call if they had third-rail related safety questions.

"He rolled his eyes, which he does all the time," Mr. Creegan said last week. "I asked him again. He ignored me. So I got louder: 'Who should third-rail call?' He can claim anything he wants."

Mr. Creegan added that if he had made racially provocative comments or gestures at the May meeting, he would have been blasted by the other officers present.

"Why didn't he bring me up on charges if he believed in those allegations?" Mr. Creegan asked.

Former Power Division Executive Board Member Milton Ramos was also at the May meeting and supported Mr. Creegan's claims.

'Nothing Racial'

"There was no monkey sounds or any kind of racial things thrown at Roger," he said. "Honestly, I feel that we don't need this kind of thing right now because the union is in such bad shape. They need to concentrate on the business of the union."

Several members at last month's division meeting said that Mr. Toussaint brought up the racial allegations against Mr. Creegan only after he had questioned the Local 100 president about the proceeds of the sale of the union's West Side headquarters and the dues-collection process. In particular, Mr. Creegan wanted to know why division officers who ran on opposition slates in the last election were denied lists showing members who had not fully paid their dues.

After the union's letter was released, a source close to Mr. Toussaint said that the "chimp-like" gestures were made at last month's division meeting, even though the letter referred to the incident happening at "another meeting." Several members who were present at the division meeting insisted that Mr. Toussaint was referring to last May's meeting and denied that Mr. Creegan made any kind of gesture on either occasion.

"There's no money for other things, but he finds money for something like this, an issue that should be a non-issue," Mr. Osorio said of the local's letter attacking Mr. Creegan.

Toussaint's Race-Baiting

Mr. Toussaint himself has been sanctioned for using racial epithets. In 1990, an arbitrator found that he called a white supervisor a "cracker," "redneck" and a "white boy." Mr. Toussaint was given a 10-day suspension.

"This type of behavior is so destructive of working relationships between people of different backgrounds and races that it deserves the most severe discipline," arbitrator Carol Wittenberg wrote at the time. "These terms are so totally unacceptable in the workplace."

Several members of the Power Division wrote a letter to Mr. Toussaint last week denouncing the union's statement as well.

This is not the first time Mr. Creegan and Mr. Toussaint have clashed. Mr. Toussaint took the division rep off employer-paid release time last summer, claiming that he did not fulfill his duties as a union representative for a member injured on the job. Mr. Creegan countered that he had to attend to both the injured member and the other workers in his crew because he was the only officer in the division on release time.

Mr. Creegan, who ran on the opposition Rail and Bus slate in December 2006, also backed a track-safety bill that would have created safety regulations for Maintenance of Way workers at NYC Transit. The bill failed to find a sponsor last summer in the State Senate, but a compromise bill was passed and signed creating a track-safety task force that includes both the union and authority presidents along with state officials.

Branded a 'Sell-Out'

Mr. Toussaint heralded the task force as a victory for workers on the tracks, giving the union the ability to proactively address safety issues. Mr. Creegan publicly called the compromise a "sell-out."

In its statement last week, the local accused its critics of playing factional politics at the expense of the members. But Mr. Creegan scoffed at the allegations.

"It's an act of desperation from a drowning man reaching for barbed wire, because he cannot deal with me on the merits of how I fight for the members," he said, adding that all he wanted was answers about the building sale and dues money. "He cannot answer any of my questions."