News

NEW YORK, NY April 25, 2006 —Members of TWU Local 100 are staging round-the-clock vigils outside the Lower Manhattan jail where their president, Roger Toussaint, is serving a 10-day sentence for last year's transit strike.

Toussaint arrived at the jail after a bouyant march across the Brooklyn Bridge with hundreds of workers. He said he had no shame in going to jail for ordering a strike which put him in contempt of court.

TOUSSAINT: The truth of the matter is that I have nothing but contempt for a system that gives employers free reign to abuse workers.

Toussaint called for the end of the Taylor Law, which bars public employees from striking. He urged the MTA to offer his members the same contract they narrowly rejected in January now that they've approved it on a revote. The MTA has said that old offer is off the table and the two sides are in binding arbitration. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.