Leaders in the Transport Workers Union were outraged yesterday that a fellow union official sold strike posters they had autographed for posterity.
Eladio Diaz, an executive board member of the TWU Local 100, actually auctioned off one of the posters yesterday – for $15 on eBay – and insiders said he is in hot water for cashing in on the placards without the union’s authorization.
Top union officials who signed the placards said they believed they would be put up in the union hall or kept as personal mementos – not sold on an auction web site.
“I was shocked to see it was Eladio who put it on eBay. It looks like he’s des- perate for money,” said John Mooney, a vice president of stations, who signed the placards.
Mooney said Diaz always gives the impression that he’s a “man of the people” who wouldn’t “sell out.”
“He’s two-faced all the way,” Mooney said.
Diaz declined repeated calls for comment.
Meanwhile, the union is beginning the process of mailing out ballots for transit workers to vote on the proposed 37-month contract that includes a 10.5 percent salary increase, holiday pay for Martin Luther King Day, pension rebates, and a new requirement to dedicate 1.5 percent of their wages toward their health care coverage.
The tally could be completed by Jan. 20.