A handful of executive board members and workers from the city's transit workers' union yesterday accused their union president, Roger Toussaint, of making too many concessions in the settlement he signed last week with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.þþThree members of the union's 46-member executive board - leaders of a dissident faction that has fiercely opposed Mr. Toussaint within Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union - accused him of surrendering any leverage by ending the three-day transit strike on Dec. 22 before reaching a contract settlement. They urged union members to reject the contract that was approved by the union's executive board last week.þþThe dissidents, at a news conference in Union Square, claimed that Mr. Toussaint had given in to the authority on major issues, especially an agreement to have workers contribute toward their health insurance premiums. They also complained that Mr. Toussaint had negotiated in private. They added that, in making concessions, he had set back the union to the point where it might have to call another strike.þþÿWith this contract, Roger Toussaint is giving away the store,ÿ said John F. Mooney, vice president for station workers. ÿIt's a classic bait and switch.ÿ He called the contract ÿthe biggest giveback in transport union historyÿ and led the dozen union dissidents flanking him in a chant: ÿNo secret deals.ÿþþWhen the union's executive board voted on the settlement, Mr. Mooney was one of 4 board members who voted against it, while 37 voted for, with 1 abstaining.þþUnion leaders say that they have achieved a tentative contract that is fair and equitable and that should be ratified. In a statement yesterday, Mr. Toussaint said the contract proposal had ÿthe overwhelming support of the executive board.ÿþþÿIt not only provides solid wage gains for our members,ÿ he said in the statement, ÿbut secures their golden years by protecting their pensions and by offering full health benefits after retirement for the first time. In addition, the contract goes further by providing pension refunds to our members who overpaid into their benefits.ÿþþThe contract goes to the 33,700 members of the rank and file, subway and bus workers, for a mail-in vote later this month. The dissidents urged the members to vote no. þþMr. Toussaint is due in court this month to face penalties for taking his union out on a strike that was barred by the state's Taylor Law. Mr. Mooney said he believed that the looming legal pressure had compromised Mr. Toussaint's bargaining power.þþÿRoger Toussaint gets threatened with jail, and the next thing you know, he's coming back to us with a contract full of givebacks,ÿ he said.þþWorkers had previously paid nothing toward their health insurance premiums, but under the new contract, they would contribute 1.5 percent of their wages. Mr. Toussaint agreed to the concessions on health insurance premiums in exchange for the transportation authority's dropping its demand to have future workers pay 6 percent of their wages toward their pensions, up from 2 percent for current workers. þþThe dissidents called upon Mr. Toussaint to convene an immediate meeting of the board and disclose the negotiations to the other board members and transit workers. þþThe complaints reflect the deep divisions between the dissidents and Mr. Toussaint, who was elected in 2000 from a slate of insurgents promising to strengthen the union against the demands of management. þþLast January, Mr. Mooney and four other union vice presidents sued Mr. Toussaint in Federal District Court in Manhattan, alleging that he had violated the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, a federal law that gives union members democratic rights. The suit complained that Mr. Toussaint had failed to hold open meetings and had suppressed free speech.þþMr. Toussaint has denied the accusations. In September, both sides agreed not to file any new motions in the federal lawsuit until the union had reached a new contract with the authority.þþIn his statement, Mr. Toussaint called the dissidents ÿa few disruptive individuals.ÿþþÿAt every turn, they have taken positions that would hurt our members and the union only to further their own ambitions,ÿ he said.þþ
Source: NY Times
