Transit Strike In Store?
By Bennett BaumerFrom the November 1, 2006 issue | Posted in Local | Email this article
Meet the strikers, scabs and flip-floppers
Roger Toussaint
While the election is a referendum over the strike, Toussaint’s leadership style is also in sharp focus. Toussaint’s enemies do not hold back their anger and disgust, and the personal is very much the political. If Toussaint wins, his influence over the local will be cemented, but Toussaint’s sway could also reach into the ever-adversarial international TWU as well.
Eric Josephson
With his paper, Revolution Transit Worker Josephson has a platform, but no real base within the union. “[Toussaint] struck, he went to jail, and now he’s supporting that no good son of a bitch Spitzer.”
Ainsley Stewart & John Mooney
They made a name for themselves in the Vote No campaign against the contract and are seen as close to socialist Marty Goodman. Stewart’s problem: the membership may remember he voted against going on strike and his contradictory positions. “I didn’t trust Toussaint coming back without a contract. I abstained on coming back [from the strike].”
Marty Goodman
Goodman feels purged from Toussaint’s camp and rails against progressive support of Toussaint, such as Juan Gonzalez, and distrusts the “spin out of the union hall by high priced P.R. officials.” Goodman says union leadership views him as though he’s from “another planet.”
Barry Roberts
He has partnered with former Toussaint ally, John Samuelson, who was angered over being booted from his staff job. Roberts may mount the toughest competition to Toussaint, though his role in the petition to end the strike will turn off many transit workers.
3 Responses to “Transit Strike In Store?”
December 12th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
RICH D’S COMMENT (NOV 18) ABOUT MY NEVER BEING IN THE “TOUSSAINT CAMP” IS INCORRECT. I WORKED CLOSELY WITH TOUSSAINT DURING OUR FIGHT AGAINST “WORKFARE’ UNION BUSTING IN TRANSIT. IN ADDITION, I MOTIONED TO START THE “ROGER TOUSSAINT DEFENSE COMMITTEE” IN “NEW DIRECTIONS” AFTER ROGER WAS FIRED. I WORKED TIRELESSLY IN HIS DEFENSE.
YES, I WAS PURGED AFTER I DEFENDED AN ELECTED REP TOUSSAINT WAS FIRING IN 2001 WITHOUT A HEARING (A SOCIALIST).
I SUPPORTED ROGER WITH GRAVE MISGIVINGS AND THE WORST OF MY FEARS CAME TRUE. OLDER AND WISER.
P.S. AFTER TELLING THE REACTIONARY “POST” THAT I WAS FROM “ANOTHER PLANET” EARLY IN THE CONTRACT FIGHT, THE POST THEN SAVAGELY ATTACKED OUR STRIKE WHICH I SUPPORTED.
December 22nd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I wish we had a hundred Marty Goodmans in the TWU. Come to think of it before too long we probably will.
November 18th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Is this a story and editorial or a press release?
First, Goodman is closer politically to Josephson than anyone.
Goodman was never really in Toussaint’s camp to start with so how can he be purged. He is correct about the Toussaint PR machine where negative stories about his opponents are taken as 100% true by the press but stories about him are held back or Toussaint is given the opportunity to spin them.
Eric Josephson has no base by choice. If you read Revolution Transit Worker you would see he even rips people to shreds who agree with him.
As for Samuelson he joins the legion of people booted by Toussaint for the crime of disagreeing with him. Roger Toussaint should have been the labor leader for the 21st century. His drive to remove not only dissent but discussion and focus on rhetoric over results means he most go.
Local 100 has not had a raise that has kept up with inflation since he has started negotiating contracts.