John Mooney
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John Mooney (b. September 4, 1966) is a Vice-President of Transport
Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, the union of New York City Transit
Authority employees in New York City. He resides in the Sheepshead Bay
Section of Brooklyn. He is a great champion of the rights of the
common man. Accordingly, he objected strenuously on December 22, 2005,
when Local 100 leg by Roger Toussaint declared an end to the three-day
strike.
Mooney went on TV saying, "It's a disgrace. We had their backs against
the wall. We were going to win. They had no choice but to give in to
our demands. Then, they called off the strike. They did not give us
any details. I was not allowed to speak."
Mooney was one of only four members of the Executive Committee of
Local 100 who voted to continue the strike.
On January 3, 2006, John Mooney was in the news again:
Three members of the union's 46-member executive board - leaders
of a dissident faction that has fiercely opposed Mr. Toussaint within
Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union - accused him of surrendering
any leverage by ending the three-day transit strike on Dec. 22 before
reaching a contract settlement. They urged union members to reject the
contract that was approved by the union's executive board last week.
The dissidents, at a news conference in Union Square, claimed that Mr.
Toussaint had given in to the authority on major issues, especially an
agreement to have workers contribute toward their health insurance
premiums. They also complained that Mr. Toussaint had negotiated in
private. They added that, in making concessions, he had set back the
union to the point where it might have to call another strike. "With
this contract, Roger Toussaint is giving away the store," said John F.
Mooney, vice president for station workers. "It's a classic bait and
switch." He called the contract "the biggest giveback in transport
union history" and led the dozen union dissidents flanking him in a
chant: "No secret deals." When the union's executive board voted on
the settlement, Mr. Mooney was one of 4 board members who voted
against it, while 37 voted for, with 1 abstaining. Union leaders say
that they have achieved a tentative contract that is fair and
equitable and that should be ratified. In a statement yesterday, Mr.
Toussaint said the contract proposal had "the overwhelming support of
the executive board." "It not only provides solid wage gains for our
members," he said in the statement, "but secures their golden years by
protecting their pensions and by offering full health benefits after
retirement for the first time. In addition, the contract goes further
by providing pension refunds to our members who overpaid into their
benefits." The contract goes to the 33,700 members of the rank and
file, subway and bus workers, for a mail-in vote later this month. The
dissidents urged the members to vote no. Mr. Toussaint is due in court
this month to face penalties for taking his union out on a strike that
was barred by the state's Taylor Law. Mr. Mooney said he believed that
the looming legal pressure had compromised Mr. Toussaint's bargaining
power. "Roger Toussaint gets threatened with jail, and the next thing
you know, he's coming back to us with a contract full of givebacks,"
he said. Workers had previously paid nothing toward their health
insurance premiums, but under the new contract, they would contribute
1.5 percent of their wages. Mr. Toussaint agreed to the concessions on
health insurance premiums in exchange for the transportation
authority's dropping its demand to have future workers pay 6 percent
of their wages toward their pensions, up from 2 percent for current
workers. The dissidents called upon Mr. Toussaint to convene an
immediate meeting of the board and disclose the negotiations to the
other board members and transit workers. The complaints reflect the
deep divisions between the dissidents and Mr. Toussaint, who was
elected in 2000 from a slate of insurgents promising to strengthen the
union against the demands of management. Last January, Mr. Mooney and
four other union vice presidents sued Mr. Toussaint in Federal
District Court in Manhattan, alleging that he had violated the
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, a federal law
that gives union members democratic rights. The suit complained that
Mr. Toussaint had failed to hold open meetings and had suppressed free
speech. Mr. Toussaint has denied the accusations. In September, both
sides agreed not to file any new motions in the federal lawsuit until
the union had reached a new contract with the authority. In his
statement, Mr. Toussaint called the dissidents "a few disruptive
individuals." "At every turn, they have taken positions that would
hurt our members and the union only to further their own ambitions,"
he said.
Mooney is a registered member of the Independence Party of New York.
He met Sam Sloan on May 22, 2004 at a fundraiser for the Independence
Party at the Magnetic Field Cocktail Lounge at 97 Atlantic Ave.,
Brooklyn Heights, New York. Present were Robert Conroy, Frank MacKay,
Lenora Fulani and many other Independence Party Activists, plus other
candidates and Naderites.
Mooney explained that he had become a member of the TWU Executive
Board by running an outside campaign and defeating the official
candidate for that position.
See also
* 1966 New York City transit strike
* 1980 New York City transit strike
* 2005 New York City transit strike
* Trade unions
External Links
* Union Dissidents Say Transit Leader Gave Away Too Much
This New York City-related article is a stub. You can help
Wikipedia by expanding it.
This biographical article about a worker's rights activist is
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mooney";
Categories: New York City stubs | Worker's rights activist stubs |
1966 births | United States labor unions | Labor organizers
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