So far the contract negotiations between the MTA and TWU Local 100 have been relatively peaceful: Though worker's contracts expired on January 15 they've kept at it (despite that slowdown "enhanced care" thing) and negotiations have continued. But that could soon change. A batch of union critics are now popping up poo-poo-ing the pace of talks. And at the head of that crowd is a man you might remember vividly from the 2005 transit strike, former TWU president and current track worker, Roger Toussaint.
Toussaint, who pretty well crippled the union financially with the 2005 strike, recently sat down with the Wall Street Journal to air his grievances with current Local 100 president John Samuelsen. "The issue is not if [the MTA has] the [money]," Toussaint said. "It's about getting it from them. And you have to have a real strategy to do that. You can't just make it up as you go along and hope that no one notices."
Toussaint says the union was "left at the alter" in the negotiations after they made it clear they wouldn't stirke. "The union's power lies…in the strength of a mobilized membership—not bluffing, not smoke and mirrors or gimmicks, but mobilization that is observable and demonstrable."
Luckily, Samuelsen and the union brass aren't taking Toussaint's bait just yet. They argue that they are trying a different approach and correctly note that the former president's policies were a disaster for the union: "The great irony of this is that the strike in 2005 was actually detrimental to the union's ongoing ability to organize members in a fight-back," Samuelsen said. "There was such a bitter taste left in the mouths of Local 100 members after the settlement of the 2005 strike that the problems still reverberate to this day."
So, unless there is a coup d'etat in the union, the talks continue as before. And as before the main issue remains the same. The union wants raises for their workers and the MTA says it doesn't have the money to give them out.
