TOUSSAINT
NEW YORK, (CMC):
A UNITED States-based Caribbean magazine has named Trinidadian-born labour leader, Roger Toussaint, as its "Person of the Year."
The Brooklyn-based Everybody's magazine, said Toussaint, who last week led a three-day strike that paralysed New York City transit system, was chosen because he is "a man of principle who aggressively embraced the American credo of bequeathing a better future for tomorrow's worker."
"By waging an honourable battle to maintain workers' hard-won pension and other benefits, Toussaint and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) demonstrated that they are keeping alive the best traditions of the American labour movement," the magazine said in a statement.
The magazine said that once the strike was called, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York State Governor, George Pataki, waged a "war of words" against Toussaint, and "conveniently forgot" to remind New Yorkers that it was the "thug" Toussaint who, in 2002, in the wake of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, accepted a 'modest' contract for his union, much to the chagrin of many union members who accused him of 'selling out'.
PENSION
"We applaud Roger Toussaint for the dignified way he conducted himself during the 54-hour strike, his principled approach, his oratory and his effective communication of the transit workers' demands," it said.
"Moreover, we salute Toussaint and the selfless, valiant workers of the Transport Workers Union for standing up for the unborn and today's workers by resisting pension givebacks and the erosion or elimination of workers' health-benefit coverage," it added.
