Results tagged “rogertoussaint”

With his back against the wall as his union's resources having been dried out, Transit Workers Union President Roger Toussaint has sworn in a court affidavit that transit workers have no intention of going on strike again "now or in the future." The affidavit was filed in hopes to have the union's automatic due payments restored, a privilege taken away after the TWU's illegal strike in 2005, a penalty that has cost it millions.

JV and Elvis, the on-air duo who inhabit "The Doghouse" on 92.3 Free FM, had their suspension from CBS Radio upgraded to a firing. The morning show pair were suspended late last month after CBS received complaints about a show in which a prank call is placed to a Chinese restaurant, and lewd language and racial slurs were employed in an attempt at humor. It was the second time in a month JV and Elvis found themselves in hot water. Earlier in April, the two were criticized for using a number of anti-gay slurs against a musician guest on their show after he admitted that he didn't listen to commercial radio and had never heard of them. Their site appears to be dormant at this time.

The NYC Transit Authority, a division of the MTA, resumed all subway track and tunnel work starting today. All non-essential work was stopped after the second transit worker death in five days occurred on Sunday.

A subway transit worker was killed and another was seriously injured when a G train hit them at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station yesterday afternoon. It seems that Marvin Franklin, a 22-year-veteran, was fatally hit when he and 37-year-old Jeffrey Hill went to pick up a dolly on another track. The G train's operator did see the men, but could not brake in time; Franklin was dragged by the train, while Hill was hit but is now in stable condition at Bellevue. From the Daily News:

The ill-fated workers were performing maintenance jobs in the station while the busy A and C lines were shut down for major track work.

Continue reading "Subway Repair Work Suspended
After Death of 2nd Transit Worker in 5 Days"

The next mayoral election may be more than two years off, but it's never too soon to start courting the union vote, especially when it's the Transit Workers Union. The men and women who make sure the trains run on time have the ability to derail any politician's campaign, so Democratic hopefuls took turns addressing the rank and file at a TWU "Save Our Union" meeting yesterday.

Where do the MTA's executive director and the TWU's president lunch? The Old Homestead! The NY Times reveals that Executive Director Elliot Sander ordered the rack of lamb while TWU President Roger Toussaint had the herb-rubbed roast chicken (what, no one ordered the Kobe Beef Hamburger?) and split the bill. If only we were a fly or a cow on the wall! We bet they discussed how much Pataki sucks, how the real time information boards will take forever to install, and how the new subway cars are pretty cool.

Governor Spitzer has nominated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones to a position on the NY State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. You may remember Jones's name from such incidents as the Transit Strike of 2005. Jones is the one who fined the TWU $2.5 million and sentenced TWU president Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail.

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun.

In Blessed Memory of Sean Bell, by Casa de Darnoc.

What a way to (almost) end 2006 - with an arbitrator making a decision about the MTA's transit workers' contract! And the decision is pretty anti-climactic - it's basically the deal that ended the strike last year, though it was later rejected by the Transit Workers Union, then passed but then denied by the MTA. Anyway, arbitrator George Nicolau said the deal was "the most just and reasonable" solution. From the AP:

Both the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its foil, Transport Workers Union Local 100, hailed the decision as a triumph -- then needled each other.

Continue reading "Arbitrator Finally Rules on Transit Contract"

A 20-year veteran transit worker was clipped by a Q train yesterday around noon. Fifty-five year old Yakov Tesenter was near the Avenue U stop in Brooklyn on the Q. He was part of a team inspecting switches for repair, when he somehow got separated from the group. amNY reports that investigators are looking into whether the "flag man, who alerts oncoming trains that work crews are present," was at his post.

MTA executive Gary Dellaverson has had some explaining to do. Last week, when discussing the possibility of a Metro-North strike, the MTA's labor negotiator told Metro, "Negotiation is about compromise," before joking about "putting needles in my Roger Toussaint doll." Oh, dear.

Huh. Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint tells the Daily News that he had a "secret deal with the MTA really ended the walkout." Toussaint faces re-election to be TWU president this month and has been criticized by opponents for ending the strike before getting a contract. So we think it's pretty convenient for Toussaint to tell all now. From the Daily News:

Toussaint said he kept the original pact secret because of the highly charged atmosphere: Gov. Pataki had insisted on the second day of the strike that the MTA wouldn't negotiate while workers were still walking picket lines.

Continue reading "Roger's Secret"

Last week, amNew York reported on Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint's ploy to raise re-election funds by selling various wares, including autographed pictures. Toussaint, though, wanted to dispute the public perception of him in the article, which had quotes from commuters outside of Penn Station. From today's AMNY:

So the Trinidad-native challenged amNewYork to walk the streets with him on his turf -- working class, outer borough neighborhoods. The cheers from working men and women, he predicted, would far outweigh the jeers. He allowed amNewYork to pick the neighborhoods.

Continue reading "Roger Toussaint Takes to the Rails - and Real People"

) and the piece de resistance, autographed photographs of Toussaint during last December's transit strike ($2).

Well, looks who is Mr. Helpful all of a sudden: MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is opposed to service cuts the MTA was planning to consider in its budget. The service cuts, which were reported yesterday in the NY Times, would have been extensive, piling on many minutes of waiting time for subways and buses as service. Critics - including our readers - freaked out, and especially considering plans to increase the subway and bus fare by 5%. Yesterday Kalikow said:

“What I’m doing, officially, is letting New York City Transit know that the M.T.A. board, which runs New York City Transit, does not want a fare increase or service cuts and they need to find other things to do, if necessary. Those two things are not things we’re going to be interested in....

Continue reading "Kalikow to Put Kibosh on Proposed MTA Service Cuts"

The Transit Workers Union is set to vote on its leadership this fall, and a group of members wants to oust current president Roger Toussaint. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that bus driver (and the chairman of the local's Manhattan and Bronx division) Barry Roberts, track division chairman John Samuelsen and conductor Nat Cummings are running together. Roberts said of Toussaint, "He destroyed the workers' morale." Roberts also said many workers would have wanted to negotiate with the MTA, versus striking last December. Hindsight is always 20/20, but given that the TWU still doesn't have a contract, we imagine the TWU membership might want some new blood.

am New York reports that transit strike constract arbitration will start tomorrow, which is crazy. Because we're in the throes of crazy heat and stuffy subway platforms, and when the strike was on, it was cool (cold over the bridge) and we were holiday shopping. Nice for the MTA and TWU to work together so well and get this thing locked up quickly. Remember when the TWU members rejected the contract? And then the MTA wanted to settle the contract with arbitration? And then the TWU tried to get the old contract passed, but the MTA wasn't having it? And the strike itself? Ah, memories.

It feels like 2005 again! TWU President Roger Toussaint and Straphangers Campaign attorney Gene Russianoff want the MTA to delay its vote on the West Side rail yards. The vote, scheduled for Wednesday, would consider the city's $500 million bid for the area Mayor Bloomberg hopes to turn into Hudson Yards. After the Jets stadium debacle last year, the rail yards were appraised at $923 million, which is why Toussaint and Russianoff are asking that the MTA hold out for a whole lot more, as the money could fund equipment and other expenses. And wanting more money for valuable land makes sense, which is probably why the MTA will accept the $500 million offer, as it seems to operate in bizarro world.

Wow. The Transport Workers Union's headquarters on West End Avenue was sold for $60 million. Back in April, it was reported that the headquarters were worth $39 million, but that there was a $60 million offer. And clearly, the TWU decided the cash out. One source tells the Post, "This amounts to yet another miscalculation on the part of the MTA and Governor Pataki. They thought they could bust this union, but we are now stronger than ever and we're ready to fight." It'll be interesting to see how the money is used, after paying the fine and getting new headquarters.

- Finally, a good tour of Greenwood Cemetery from Forgotten-NY.

"The thing here that people should be outraged about are the people that marched with Roger Toussaint across the bridge. What kind of message does that send to our kids?" That's a veiled refernce to teachers union head Randi Weingarten if we ever heard one! At any rate, Toussaint said he was treated decently in jail - no lawsuits over that.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the Transport Workers Union December 2005 transit strike a "criminal act committed against riders" and refused to revote on the post-strike offer that the TWU rejected then accepted. He also told the MTA board that he begged Transport Workers Union head Roger Toussaint to continue negotiatingduring pre-strike negotiations last December.

"I pleaded with Roger Toussaint not to leave. I begged him. I can't remember the last time I begged somebody to do something, but I did that night. I said, 'Roger, don't leave,' and Roger got up and walked out and sent his union out on an illegal strike."

If you're going to protest going to jail after leading an illegal transit strike for three days, then you might as well with the Reverend Al Sharpton, teachers union head Randi Weingarten, and about a thousand other supporters. And according to plan, many members of various unions are starting to view Roger Toussaint as a martyr, versus the main guy who inconvenienced the city (well, it's him and MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow). Toussaint headed off for his ten day jail stand in a big way: Rally outside the Brooklyn courthouse where he was sentenced and a rousing march over the Brooklyn Bridge. Some of what Toussaint told his supporters (and the news crews):

"Jail has no terror for me compared to the shame I would have felt if we would have simply swallowed the authority's miserable prestrike offer!"

Continue reading "Toussaint Goes to Jail After Brooklyn Bridge March"

The Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint will kick off his ten-day jail sentence - for last December's three-day transit strike - by having a rally outside King's County Supreme Court at 4PM. Then Toussaint and his supporters - including the Reverend Al Sharpton and John J. Sweeny of the AFL-CIO - will march across the Brooklyn Bridge and head over to the Tombs, where he needs to report at 6PM. But supporters will also hold sit-ins outside the jail. Toussaint tells the NY Times that his jail sentence is stupid, "It's one thing if you threaten a jail sentence while a strike is on. t's another thing to send someone to jail three months afterward." And he tells the Daily News that he's not worried about jail, but he's worried about his family worrying about, like his 10 year old son. The Post's reporter got threatened when he observed Toussaint's "last day of freedom" while eating in Boerum Hill ("curried chicken, accompanied by rice and beans and spicy cabbage at the West Indian home-style favorite Stir It Up on Atlantic Avenue").

Interesting fact about the fines imposed on the Transport Workers Union over last December's strike. The TWU can resume collecting membership dues (about $1.5 million per month) if TWU president says the union will never strike again. The thing is that TWU president Roger Toussaint has been pretty adamant about the right to strike, and it'd be unlikely he'd go for it... even though it seems like the union might want some sort of leadership shake-up. And in the "Toussaint's going to jail!" coverage that is so excitable in the tabs, the Daily News looks at what Toussaint can expect in jail. He'll be at "The Tombs" on White Street (aka the Bernard Kerik Complex!) downtown, in a 6" by 8" cell, and breakfast include "cereal, bread and fruit."

Brooklyn Supreme Court's Justice Theodore Jones nailed the transit union with a huge $2.5 million fine yesterday, plus ordered the union to stop collecting dues, and the Transport Workers Union vowed to appeal the decision. The loss for the TWU could be over $7 million all told, since the TWU takes in $1.6 million in dues each month and the union cannot appeal the dues payment stoppage for three months. The TWU will now have to collect fines on the individual basis, and who knows how successul that will be. Naturally, the MTA appreciated the ruling, saying, "In light of the decision by the TWU leadership last December to willfully violate the Taylor Law and disrupt the lives of millions of New Yorkers, we respect the ruling of the court." The Reverend Jesse Jackson, along with the Reverend Al Sharpton, was present for the fines hearing, and complained that the ruling means unions cannot fight back. You can read TWU president Roger Toussaint's court statement, proclaiming that transit workers were engaging in civil disobedience. With the appeal, Gothamist wonders if the fine will be reduced further, as Justice Jones already knocked off half a million - it seems that since the Taylor Law is in place, the TWU has to be punished in some way, like it or not.