Toussaint Foe Claims 4-Day Track Week Violates TWU Pact

JOHN SAMUELSEN: Improper without board approval.

Ask a group of people if they would consider the possibility of working longer hours during the day but working fewer days in a month, and many might say yes. Ask New York City Transit Track Inspector John Samuelsen, and tell him that his archnemesis is behind the option, and he'd oppose it.

He filed internal union charges against Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint Jan. 27 of "conduct unbecoming" of a union member after the announcement of an agreement with NYC Transit to establish a pilot program for certain track workers to opt into a four-day workweek, where workers have two eight-hour days and two twelve-hour days, a schedule with built-in overtime hours.

'Can't Do It Unilaterally'

"By constitution, Roger Toussaint does not enjoy the right to unilaterally enter into any agreement, either permanent or temporary, which violates our contract with the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority]," said Mr. Samuelsen, who is running for the union presidency, in his charges. "The TWU Local 100 executive board must order Toussaint to terminate this program. The executive board must not allow the president of the union to unilaterally alter the terms of our contract."

ROGER TOUSSAINT: A worthwhile option.

A spokesman for Mr. Toussaint did not respond to Mr. Samuelsen's charge.

Mr. Samuelsen is a former ally turned political enemy of Mr. Toussaint, who will not seek re-election in June. Instead, he will move on to fulltime leadership responsibilities at the TWU of America, the local's parent union, and support as his successor Curtis Tate, Local 100's vice president of the Rapid Transit Operations Division.

Mr. Toussaint hailed the pilot program as a "win-win-win" situation, because the schedule built overtime pay into a 40-hour work week, gave workers 52 more days off per year, and while the main schedule gave workers in the program three weekdays off per week, it would allow them to take Saturday and Sunday off every six weeks.

"The program is limited to 105 jobs in Track Construction only," the union said in a statement. "This is 20 percent of the jobs in Track Construction."

Mr. Samuelsen said before he filed the charges that workers who opted into the program would realize less annual income, although that is be- cause they would work fewer hours over the course of the year.

Mr. Toussaint's agreement is not without precedent; many unions have fought for the opportunity for a fourday workweek, arguing that in addition to increasing morale among workers by granting more time off, it limits energy use and helps the environment by reducing the number of commutes to work each week. U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has pushed for legislation that would grant the fourday workweek option to most Federal Government employees.