NYC Union Chief Roger Toussaint Remains Defiant Hours Before Heading to Jail for Leading Transit Strike
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Roger Toussaint, president of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, heads to jail today to serve a 10-day sentence for authorizing a strike in December that shut down New York City's Transit system for a little more than two days. Hours before heading jail, Toussaint joins us in our firehouse studio to discuss the strike, the future of the union and what he calls the "extortionist media."
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By this evening, the President of the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, Roger Toussaint, will be in jail, serving a ten-day sentence in a lock-up in lower Manhattan known as "The Tombs." Toussaint was sentenced to jail earlier this month by Judge Theodore Jones of the Brooklyn Supreme Court for authorizing a strike that shut down New York City's Transit system for a little more than 2 days. The strike took place in December and violated the state's Taylor Law, which forbids public employees from striking. Toussaint and union supporters maintained that the strike was a defensive strike to stop the Metropolitan Transit Authority from, among other things, creating a two-tiered pension system. Toussaint was the only union member ordered to jail even though lawyers for the MTA and the state Attorney General said they wanted community service for union officials as opposed to jail time. And in further punishment for the strike, last week, Judge Jones fined the 33,000 member union $2.5 million and suspended its ability to automatically collect member dues.
In addition, last week, transit workers overwhelmingly ratified the contract offer that they had previously rejected. The package entails a 10.9% increase in raises and a new paid holiday. It also requires workers to put 1.5% of their earnings towards health premiums. MTA head, Peter Kalikow has stated that the agency is not legally bound by the second vote and the matter will go into binding arbitration. Roger Toussaint was elected head of the TWU Local 100 in 2000. He is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, settling in Brooklyn when he was 18. He was hired by the MTA as a cleaner in 1984, and became a track worker in 1985. In 1994, he became a formal union member when he was elected leader of the 1800-member Track Division. In 2000 he was elected President of the TWU.
Roger Toussaint, President of Transport Workers Union, Local 100.
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TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: Roger Toussaint joins us here in our studio. In just a few hours he will be headed back to our area to turn himself in at the Tombs. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Roger Toussaint.
ROGER TOUSSAINT: Good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about why you are headed to jail today?
ROGER TOUSSAINT: Why? Well, that was up to the judge. But essentially, they are trying to send a message to the entire labor movement and all the social justice causes that if you stand up and fight, they are going to crush you, so it’s important that we send back a message to them. That's why they’re subjecting us to what is the equivalent of a public flogging. The fines, the dues checkoff elimination, as well as the jail, is truly excessive, makes no sense other than to send a message.
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