Private Lines Officers Sue For Seat At TWU Talks; Political Beef Turned Physical
By ARI PAUL
Two Transport Workers Union Local 100 officers have asked a judge to stop the union's negotiations with Metropolitan Transportation Authority Bus unless they are included in contract talks.

JOE SEXTON: Alleges 'scheme to suppress dissent.'

Local 100 Private Bus Lines Division Queens Chair Joe Sexton and Westchester Chair Pete Denicolo claim that they have been excluded from the talks, despite a union bylaw requiring that division chairs participate in contract negotiations. The two filed a request for an injunction in Manhattan Supreme Court Aug. 28.

Claims VP Injured Him

On Aug. 20, Mr. Sexton found out about contract negotiations taking place at New York City Transit headquarters in lower Manhattan. He entered the negotiations room and claimed that during a break with union officers, Local 100 Private Lines Vice President Enzo Sinnona pushed him into a wall, causing injuries which required treatment at a downtown hospital emergency room.

MTA Police have no record of the incident.

"Sinnona lunged at me, grabbed me and threw me violently to the wall and, without any cause or provocation, defendant Sinnona maliciously and violently assaulted me," Mr. Sexton wrote in an affidavit. "Sinnona's actions are part of a pattern and scheme to suppress dissent within Local 100, for which Local 100 is responsible."

Mr. Sinnona responded, "I have nothing to say about it."

Mr. Sexton, who was elected in 2006 on the now-defunct Fresh Start opposition slate, initially opposed union President Roger Toussaint's decision to appoint Mr. Sinnona as the division vice president. Earlier this year, Mr. Sinnona stripped Mr. Sexton of employer-paid release time because he allegedly used release time for personal business, screamed at members during union meetings, and pursued a political agenda.

Local 100 attorney Susan Jennik, who was present at the negotiations on the day of the incident, declined to discuss Mr. Sexton's accusation of assault.

Claims They Weren't Barred

Another Local 100 attorney, Walter Meginniss, said in a letter that the two officers were not excluded from the negotiating committee.

"That Mssrs. Denicolo and Sexton were not among those advisers does not indicate that they were excluded," he wrote. "When the negotiating committee has been convened, Mssrs. Denicolo and Sexton have been invited to attend and will continue to be invited."

He added that the two did not attend contract talks because Mr. Denicolo had been out sick and that Mr. Sexton had also taken time off.

Mr. Sexton disputed Mr. Meginniss's claims.

Want Parity With NYC Transit

MTA Bus drivers have lacked parity with Bus Operators at NYC Transit. Mr. Sexton said in a phone interview that Local 100 is negotiating a deal covering nearly 3,500 workers that would give drivers pay parity but relinquish some of their duties, such as fueling and cleaning, and put those under the title of general utility, a move he opposed.

"The problem in our case [is] to be getting a pension that's less than [NYC Transit], and we have to give up all these concessions," he said.

Earlier this year, the two division officers filed bylaw and constitutional charges against Mr. Toussaint for excluding them from contract talks. They added that such a move was a turnaround for the president, who as Local 100 Track Division Chairman in 1999 was a plaintiff in a lawsuit with fellow chairmen charging that the union and its then-president, Willie James, kept them out of contract negotiations with NYC Transit.