Roger's Reign of Error
To the Editor:

On the afternoon of July 21 I received two e-mail bulletins from Transport Workers Union Local 100 criticizing this newspaper's reporting on Roger Toussaint and Ed Watt's failures. Despite claims to the contrary, it was the "Roger and Ed Show" that utterly disregarded the outcomes of Local 100 elections and membership votes. You would think that Roger and Ed would be able to know the difference between a contract being voted yes or no, as in the 2005 contract.

The members would like to democratically vote on their vice presidents and not have Roger's flunkies forced on them as was the case with Enzo Sinnona and Charles Ayala. Why was there an RTO bulletin put out by Vice President Curtis Tate urging a vote yes on the bylaws "to put an end to individuals turning every issue into a political football and to stop individuals from holding our local hostage to their own agendas?"

Speak for yourself, Curtis. It's Roger who holds the local hostage. If the members disagree with Roger, is it due to politics? Roger and Ed would not find themselves in the tabloids if they weren't destroying Local 100 with their dictatorial policies and their failures to take on management.

We in Maintenance of Way are perplexed about why a decent human being such as yourself would continue to support these creeps. Why doesn't the executive board acquire courage and stand up to this dictator? Also, while we're at it, why doesn't the supposedly hard-working executive board ever allow members to read the minutes of the E-Board meetings?

Which was more unusual? The Chief reporting on TWU issues or Roger, his staff, his legal team and who knows how many paid consultants answering with no comments. What is unusual is to sell the members' union hall right smack in the middle of contract negotiations to a top-secret buyer at a seriously undervalued price. It is unusual that the union hall was undervalued by $30 million and then Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt made a colossal mistake of not acquiring another building in the time allotted, thus causing the members to lose another $10 million in capital gains penalties.

I have brought Roger and Ed up on bylaw charges, yet this bylaws-pushing executive board has yet to answer. This administration continues to deny the members their right to the elected reps they voted into office. Why are employer-paid release time slots given to Roger's flunkies who were crushed in the election? How many Toussaint loyalists are on the union's payroll at inflated salaries?

Ed Watt took more than 800 bridge crossings in one year. I remember him being in London, France and other places during this time. If someone used this taxpayer-funded MTA E-Z Pass during that time, would that be a felony or misdemeanor? I found out that the Attorney General's office has a strike force that investigates corrupt labor unions. I hope that someone from Andrew Cuomo's office sees this letter and decides to give me a call. There are a few financial irregularities I would like to point out.

The Chief reported correctly that the TWU played a pivotal role in the labor movement. We sure did! Toussaint's crushing defeat at the hands of the transit authority by coming back from the strike with no contract caused him to disregard a contract "no" vote and saddle transit workers with a first-time-ever 1.5-percent "Toussaint Tax." This "Toussaint Tax" was a significant blow to the labor movement. All unions now have to waste precious time, money and resources during negotiations to beat back the deplorable, ever-escalating "Toussaint Tax."

The bylaws vote comes at a time when the union should be preparing for contract negotiations. The bylaw vote was put forward by this E-Board alone rather than a joint officer/executive board approach. This E-Board sees fit to create another executive vice president at a salary of more than $100,000, when we still have no dues check-off. Roger doesn't want dues check-off restored because he can rewrite the bylaws with just 3,000 members. If the MTA is pushing for a cultural change, why is there still no dues check-off?

Is the MTA still punishing transit workers for the strike? Some transit workers weren't even here for the strike. Or is Roger squashing check-off so he can hold onto power and dole out patronage jobs?

If we were saddled with the 1.5-percent "Toussaint tax" during a MTA surplus of over $1 billion, what can we expect out of our phony militant during deficits?

Poor Roger can't handle criticism from the dissidents — how can he handle the MTA?

THOMAS CREEGAN, Chairman, Power Distribution, TWU Local 100