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From the February/March 2001 issue of UDR
Democracy runs express in NYC Transit election
As ballots were counted on December 13, under the watchful eyes of both challengers and incumbents, it became clear that the opposition caucus, New Directions, was on its way to a massive victory in the election of officers of Transport Workers Local 100, the union which represents over 33,000 New York City subway and bus workers. Most are public employees on the payroll of the Metropolitan Transit Authority; some work for private bus companies.
New Directions won all three top spots and an overwhelming majority of 37 on the 46-member executive board. In a three-way race, Roger Toussaint, the New Directions insurgent, was elected to the top job of president with 12,465 votes, 60% of the total. Ed Watt was elected secretary treasurer and Noel Acevedo, recording secretary. Eddie Melendez, who had the support of TWU International President Sonny Hall, ran second for president with 4,347 votes; Willie James, the incumbent president who had lost Hall’s support, ran third with 3,786 votes. About 21,000 members voted, an exceptionally large turnout for a union election.
This election could have more than local significance. At the 1995 AFL-CIO convention, the international, the Transport Workers Union, represented 75,000 members. More than 30,000 are in Local 100!
The New Directions election victory culminates 16 years of activity beginning in 1984 when a small group of radical activists began publishing a rank-and-file newsletter Hell on Wheels. Some time later they joined with others in New Directions, to run an insurgent slate in union elections. Over the years, they built a movement encouraging action on the job, growing in influence, winning seats on the executive board and control over some divisions, especially in the subways. They led campaigns against concessionary contracts. In two earlier elections, Tim Schermerhorn, then ND candidate for president, came within an ace of victory.
In those 16 years, New Directions created a membership cadre who held their union accountable, helped preserve a high level of democracy in the union, and led to concrete workplace gains. During contract talks in December 1999, slowdowns and strike threats from New Direction may have caused the city to sweeten its offer.
Transit workers in New York City are burdened with a heavy public responsibility. They move millions of people to and from work every day and must protect the safety of their passengers and their own, sometimes under dangerous conditions. They are proud of their work and know that they deserve respect, much like the city’s semi-military uniformed workforce of police and firefighters. On the other hand, they work for the MTA which has earned a reputation as one of our nastier employers, treating them as lowly hired hands. The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority is earning a reputation as one of our nastier employers. New Directions reports that every year the TA subjects its workers to 16,000 disciplinary charges, quite a record for an authority which employs some 30,000 workers. An average of one out of two faces charges each year!
Workers confident of their worth, an employer treating them as menials, a union not aggressive enough in defending their rights, and finally a new potential union leadership arising from the ranks; it is that combination which explains everything: eruptions on the job, revolt in the union, and finally this victory. Events in Local 100 present not so much a story of the battle for union democracy as an example of the exercise of union democracy, the use of their rights by members to transform their union.
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