NYC Union Chief Toussaint Remains Defiant Hours Before Heading to Jail

[meganmonkey]

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.

much more at link...

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/24/134...

[pberq]

1. a rally of support

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060425/3028811.a...

As strike leader heads to jail, a rally of support

4/25/2006
NEW YORK (AP) - With chants of, "Let's hear it for Roger," hundreds of union supporters rallied Monday to send Roger Toussaint off to jail to begin a 10-day sentence for leading last year's bus and subway strike.

Toussaint later planned to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to a jail in Manhattan. The Brooklyn Bridge is the same pedestrian route that tens of thousands of New Yorkers were forced to use during the three-day strike that crippled the city just before Christmas.

Toussaint was greeted by wild cheers from the crowd as he arrived at the premarch rally in Brooklyn. Union leaders addressed the crowd in front of a podium adorned with the words, "It's about respect" - a quote uttered repeatedly by Toussaint during the strike.

Speaker after speaker hailed Toussaint as a working-class hero - a man who bravely stood up for the rights of the common man by demanding fair treatment on pensions, health care and wages. They screamed chants like "Long live Roger Toussaint!" and "Long live the union."

[Maddy McCall]

2. K/R

[cally]

3. K & R

[nmliberal]

4. What an incredible human being

"...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..."
Yes. Yes. Yes.

[AnneD]

5. This is what it is going to take to make changes folks!!!!!

I get so pissed at the folks in the BMW club (bitch, moan, and whine club) that complain about being 'inconvienced' at Christmas time. They complain that the workers have better benefits....well, perhaps if these folks unionize, they can get a better deal. That's how it works. I know the transit workers would be the first to support you and not cross the picket line.

[meganmonkey]

6. Wow, I'm glad I finally got some replies!

I thought this thread was DOA.

In solidarity!