Undeserved Credit at TWU

To the Editor:

Just when you think that the officers and staff of Transport Workers Union Local 100 under the leadership of Roger Toussaint and Ed Watt could sink no lower, along comes Stations Division Chair Jamel Chisolm.

As part of her officer's report on July 24, Ms. Chisolm stated that the union, after a meeting with management, would soon begin installing air-conditioning in all mobile wash reporting locations. Stations members who were at both the picket and the division meeting were outraged by both Ms. Chisolm's statements and the union's arrogance in taking credit for the work that rank-and-file members did in spite of the union.

As reported in this publication last week, it was Station Agent Marty Goodman who led a picket outside New York City Transit headquarters to push for air-conditioning for station Cleaners in all mobile washrooms in the transit authority. Mr. Goodman, who started this struggle a couple of months ago, first went through the very bureaucratic Transit Authority chain of command for weeks and got nowhere. Mr. Goodman then got Cleaners to sign on to a letter he drafted and hand-delivered to Howard Roberts, President of NYC Transit. It was only after he got no response from Mr. Roberts's office that he went back to the Cleaners and the Cleaners voted to picket the President's office.

Only when word got out that there would be a picket at 2 Broadway did the union finally get involved — but not to help organize the picket or to empower Cleaners; just the opposite: they discouraged them and told them not to join the picket as this would anger management and union leadership. Further, not a single Stations officer or staff member attended the picket on July 16. This is a clear indication that the Local 100 leadership is much more invested in its new partnership with the MTA than with empowering the membership and bringing unity and solidarity to Local 100. They have even gone so far as to attack this very publication and make reference to the "old MTA" in their latest bulletin to the members, titled "Why The Attacks on Local 100."

At the same time the leadership of Local 100 is saying it is cutting back on expenses due to the loss of dues check-off, it may want to take a look at Ms. Chisolm's spending habits. Apparently Ed Watt is not the only officer whose math doesn't add up. Ms Chisolm, while enjoying the perks of a union-funded car, also spent an astonishing $20,000-plus on union expenses in 2007.

Ms Chisolm, who holds the office of Division Chair, has spent much more than any vice president (a position which is higher than Division Chair) and not much less than the president of the union himself. Ms. Chisolm should spend a dollar or two of that money and buy Marty Goodman a thank-you card for doing her job.

MARVIN HOLLAND

Editor's note: Mr. Holland is a former Transport Workers Union Local 100 executive board member representing the Stations Department.