Two Candidates From TWU Dissident Slate Withdraw Over Dues

MARVIN HOLLAND: Uncertain status spurs withdrawal.

Two of the top four members of the Take Back Our Union slate in the Transport Workers Union Local 100 election have left the race because of questions about whether their dues status would make them ineligible to run for union office.

Marvin Holland and David Francis decided to withdraw their candidacies last week after questions arose on whether they would have met the requirement that they be in continuous good standing for a year prior to the election. Mr. Holland, a New York City Transit station Cleaner, founded the TBOU caucus last year, which recently chose Track Inspector John Samuelsen as its presidential candidate.

"The question is whether or not they would have survived accusations from the election committee that they were in good standing for 12 months," Mr. Samuelsen said, adding that the two members were currently in good standing.

Johnson, Rivera Pinch-Hit

Instead, the slate has chosen Conductor Benita Johnson to run for recording secretary and Bronx-based Bus Operator Israel Rivera to run for secretary-treasurer.

TBOU also filed a protest with the neutral election monitor April 8 claiming that the union had yet to inform the slate whether its candidates were eligible to run.

"One can't find out if one is eligible to run apparently because it is 'too difficult' to make that determination and the election committee is making no effort to promptly find out for us," TBOU attorney Larry Cary said in his protest letter. "Our petitions will either be delayed or we risk having holes in the slate that can't be filled. Even mobbed-up locals have done a better job of having a fair election."

According to recent U.S. Department of Labor records, more than 18,000 of the local's 38,000 members are in good standing and have full voting rights.