The thug in charge of the Transit Strike in December has been sentenced to ten days in prison and a $1,000 fine for violating New York City’s Taylor Law, which prohibits public employees from striking.

In a statement, Toussaint said before the court: “We were engaged in civil disobedience, we did so because we had to. It is the (Transit) Authority that is the chief law breaker in the transit system.”

Toussaint called the work stoppage a “defensive strike” to thwart the MTA’s attempt to create a two-tiered pension system.

Terry Meginniss, a lawyer for Transport Workers Union Local 100, added that “jail sentences do not serve any kind of purpose but vengeance.”

The judge will hear more arguments Wednesday regarding the $3 million in union fines and the automatic dues check-off for union members, Toussaint will be cross-examined tomorrow by MTA lawyers.

The union’s secretery treasurer Ed Watt, the no. 2 TWU official, received a $500 fine. The No. 3 member, Darlene Lawson, also got a $500 fine.

There was one light moment during the hearing when attorney Neil Abramson, representing the MTA, asked Toussaint if he was familiar with the agency’s accounting pratices.

“Two sets of books,” Toussiant [sic] quipped, referring to revelations in 2003 that the MTA kept a public and private set of financial figures.

Source: NY Newsday

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