Local 100 Dissidents To Stir Pot At Convention

ROGER TOUSSAINT: Opposition making him an issue.

The dissident caucus of Transport Workers Union Local 100 is set to reopen an old wound at the union's international convention in Las Vegas next month, as it announced this week that it is proposing a resolution to "Repudiate the call of former International President Mike O'Brien for members to cross picket lines during our Dec. 2005 strike."

The Take Back Our Union slate, which will send 40 delegates to the convention, released a set of proposed resolutions, among them a call for the institution of a national universal health-care plan and a demand to have Local 100 ballots counted by the end of September rather than December. The incumbent United Invincible slate is sending 72 delegates. Local 100 is the largest affiliate of the TWU of America.

Distanced Itself From Local

The international, which had an acrimonious relationship with departing Local 100 President Roger Toussaint for much of the last decade, did not support the union's illegal, three-day walkout that crippled the city during the middle of holiday shopping season. At the time, then-President O'Brien asked a judge in Brooklyn to exempt the international from Taylor Law penalties because it had no control over Mr. Toussaint, and issued an advisory to Local 100 members shortly after the strike began to return to their jobs and have the union go back to bargaining.

In a statement to supporters, the TBOU said: "The current TWU International President is Jim Little. His bid for re-election will take place at the convention. It seems likely that he will not face opposition. However, it also seems likely that Roger Toussaint will be included on Little's slate of officers. If Toussaint seeks election to a position in the International, Take Back Our Union will actively oppose him. We will not participate in any slate of officers that includes Roger Toussaint."

Spokesmen for Mr. Toussaint did not respond to requests for comment.

Want Runoff Provision

The TBOU is also proposing a requirement that TWU affiliate officers receive a majority of votes to take office, which was inspired by the 2006 Local 100 general election in which Mr. Toussaint was re-elected despite receiving just 45 percent of the votes because the opposition vote was split by four other candidates. Under the proposal, runoff elections would be held among the top two finishers when the vote-leader didn't get 50 percent or more.

Ballots for the Local 100 officer election were cast in June, although new members will be able to vote well into November. The TBOU argues that delaying the vote count until December has led a number of officers who believe they are going to lose to neglect their union duties.