Transit-union boss Roger Toussaint treated himself to big raises during the same years bus and subway workers settled for meager ones – a move opponents say is not only improper, but also violates TWU rules.
According to Transport Workers Union bylaws, a union officer’s raise cannot exceed what transit workers get through collective bargaining.
But while bus and subway workers received no raise in 2003, Toussaint earned a 4 percent increase, to $93,987. And in 2004, when the rank and file got a 3 percent boost, the union boss got an 8.5 percent raise, to $101,990, according to payroll records filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.
“He’s the top guy, and he feels he can do anything he wants to,” said Richard Watson, a station agent who lodged a complaint against Toussaint. “We demand he repay, resign, and be expelled from TWU Local 100.”
Calling Watson’s claims baseless, Toussaint contends he lowered his salary by more than $20,000 when he took office, compared to his predecessor, Willie James, who earned $110,000.
And the reason his raises exceeded that of members is that he cashed in unused vacation and personal days, he claims.
His 2004 salary included $4,553 for unused days and another $6,800 for the prior year, according to a memo from the union’s accountant. His base pay, which was $91,052 in 2004, had followed the same raises as the rest of the workers.
Still, his increases might violate union rules. In a 2004 memo sent to all union officers, TWU Secretary-Treasurer Ed Watt states, “All vacation time must be used within the calendar year. No vacation time will be carried over into the next year or allowed to be banked.”
Watt admitted to The Post that an exception was made for Toussaint, but countered, “The Post’s agenda is obviously to discredit Local 100.”
The TWU’s executive board, controlled by Toussaint, voted to dismiss the complaint. Watson has appealed to the union’s international, of which he is now an officer.
Watson and others contend that there is no way Toussaint had so much unused vacation time, given the days he had to take off to campaign in 2003, and the numerous global trips he took in 2004.
Toussaint made several trips out of the country, always contending it was union business, said TWU Vice President John Mooney.
“He thinks of himself as an international labor leader,” Mooney said. “His biggest problem is that he believes the rules that everyone else has to abide by do not apply to him.”
(p. 11 in metro)
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Pay it ain’t so
Toussaint salary — Toussaint increase — Union
2001 $94,310 (18% cut) 5%
2002 $90,231 4.3% 4%
2003 $93,987 4.2% 0%
2004 $101,990 8.5% 3%
* 2005 figures not released yet