Falling-Out Among TWU Allies Spurs 3-Way 'Surface' Race

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James IN THE MIDDLE: Harry Wills (left), who is running for vice president of TWU Local 100's TA Surface Division on the Take Back Our Union slate, campaigns at the East New York Depot in Brooklyn. He faces off this month against incumbent Stephan Thomas of the United Invincible slate and J.P. Patafio, an independent who until recently was an ally of Mr. Thomas.

The race for vice president of the TA Surface Division of Transport Workers Union Local 100 pits three major candidates against each other, one of them a former staunch supporter of the incumbent slate.

VP Stephan Thomas is running on the incumbent United Invincible slate and will be opposed by his former ally, J.P. Patafio, who is running as an independent with several of his allies seeking division offices. Harry Wills is running on the dissident Take Back Our Union Slate.

Active After Driver's Murder

Mr. Thomas did not respond to requests for comment. He is perhaps best known for his response to the murder of a Flatbush Depot-based Bus Operator last December. He worked with New York City Transit leadership to establish a pilot program in Brooklyn so that drivers in that depot could have protective Plexiglas shields installed on their buses. He also gave an emotional, tear-filled speech at the slain driver's funeral, saying "this is not supposed to happen to a Bus Operator."

'Closing Barn Too Late'

Mr. Wills, a Bus Operator from Ulmer Park Depot, saw the pilot program as too little, too late, noting that there are more assaults on Bus Operators than on any other employee group Local 100 represents.

"It was closing the barn door after the horse had gotten out," he said, adding that Albany had previously enacted a law mandating that anyone assaulting a transit worker would receive up to seven years in prison. "Operators have been assaulted numerous times since then and there was absolutely nothing being done in the last three years."

Until late last year, Mr. Wills said, Bus Operators working on shuttle buses, which offer service to subway stations closed due to maintenance, were paid at an overtime rate. NYC Transit ended this practice, putting these members back on straight-time pay, and Mr. Wills admonished Mr. Thomas for not resisting the change.

Claims Feud Produced 'Standstill'

Mr. Wills noted that shortly after Mr. Thomas was elected in 2006 along with Mr. Patafio as the division's Bus Operator chair, the two began feuding, which interfered with Mr. Thomas's running of the division.

"The problem is that absolutely nothing happened under Stephan Thomas's administration," he said last week. "There was a standstill in the division."

Mr. Patafio was until recently a steadfast loyalist of Roger Toussaint, who six months ago left the Local 100 presidency to serve as a vice president and director of its international union, TWU of America. He was a particularly loud voice during the threeday transit strike in 2005, seen in newspaper coverage with a bullhorn rallying picketers. Recently, he had been active in organizing Local 100 events, standing with Mr. Toussaint and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes during a press conference last year about tougher prosecution of assaults on transit workers.

'We Had a Disagreement'

In an interview last month, Mr. Patafio would not go into specifics about his objections to the other slates in the division, saying that his team was "the best." He acknowledged that he had a falling-out with the UI slate for his division, but declined to endorse either presidential candidate, John Samuelsen of TBOU or Curtis Tate of UI.

"There was a disagreement and c'est la vie, and such is life," Mr. Patafio said. "I'm not running against Curtis, I'm not running against John. I'm running against Harry Wills and Stephan Thomas."