Roger Toussaint Quotations

Unless there is a substantial movement by the authority, trains and buses will come to a halt as of midnight tonight.

We extend thanks to our riders and to our members for the support that they have received in the last couple of weeks of difficulty.

Were it not for the pension piece, we would not be out on strike. All it needs to do is take its pension proposal off the table.

We have no progress to report. That's not good because we have precious little time before the deadline approaches.

We have no progress to report, and that is not good.

What the MTA has decided to do is pour poison on the deal in order to provide ammunition to the opposition, in hopes of having the contract voted down. It seems as if a decision was made by the state to sink the contract.

We tried to bargain with the MTA. We negotiated well past our contract deadline because we wanted to get a deal done, and we still do.

New Yorkers, this is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement, a fight over the erosion or eventual elimination of health benefit coverage for the working people of New York, it is a fight over dignity and respect on the job.

I'd like to thank all the members of Local 100 for their unerring supporting and perseverance in the course of these very difficult past few weeks. We'd also like to thank the riders and working people of New York for their patience, forbearance and understanding, for the equally difficult time spent by this entire city.

It is a fight over dignity and respect on the job. To our riders, we ask for your understanding.

I will do 30 years before transit workers surrender. Working people have tried to obey the law, and we have gotten nothing but insults for it.

Our members will stand together and stand firm, and make sure the organization is not broken.

That explains why he has been muscling and intervening in these negotiations all along, why the chairman has been taking instructions from the mayor. There's an agenda at stake here.

My message is let transit workers decide and determine their own fate. Don't get involved in the business and affairs of our union. If you make a deal, stick to it.

That would go a long way to us resuming the negotiations. We believe that the pension demands put forth by the MTA are illegal, and burden the negotiations.

We do not appreciate being threatened on public television nonetheless and in front of our children. Even if the governor needs this to appear to be tough to the nation for his own political ambitions, it's inappropriate.

We got the major items that were important to our members with respect to lifetime medical coverage and with respect to a pension rebate worth a lot of money. We made a concession in respect to the health benefits ... We consider that to be an appropriate and fair resolution to the strike.

We are not thugs. It points to the problem at the MTA that is shared by the city fathers and the state fathers. ... We find it extremely regrettable.

We did not want a strike, but apparently the MTA, the governor and mayor did.

We're not talking about a new strike. We're saying that we want a negotiated settlement, not one imposed through arbitration.

The contract they offered would leave the next generation of transit workers behind, and we will not accept that. We have voted to begin a series of strikes that will start with private bus lines and then spread to MTA properties.

The executive board voted to begin a series of strikes, first out on some of the private bus lines and then extending onto MTA properties.

We, of course, will do everything possible to keep it out of binding arbitration.

We paid the price in millions of dollars in fines, 10 times that for our members, and face impending loss of dues check off which is going to hemorrhage the finances of our union. But you cannot take on a fight like this and not get bloodied. We are still here standing before you bloodied but unbowed.

We wake up at 3 and 4 in the morning to move the trains in this town. That's not the behavior of thugs and selfish people.

We will communicate with the MTA the results of this vote and we will reach out to meet with them in the near future.

Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected.

Tonight the executive board voted to begin a series of strikes first out on some of the private bus lines and then extending onto MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) properties.

What they'd be saving on pensions is a pittance.

We thank riders for their patience and forbearance. We will be providing various details regarding the outcome of this strike in the next several days.

We thank our riders for their patience and forbearance.

We are very confident that this package will meet with the approval of the members, ... It answers many of their needs, many of their urgent pleas, especially in the area of health coverage.

I stand here today because a judge has found me guilty of contempt of court. The truth of the matter is that I have nothing but contempt for a system that gives employers free rein to abuse workers.

These comments don't sound like the Chairman Kalikow I know. We can only conclude that this is from the governor of New York to the people of New York City from his fund-raiser in New Hampshire.

The struggle and defiance and unfortunately sacrifice will be required and will occur and judges need to understand that, the courts need to understand that and the lawmakers need to understand that.

After six years of round-the-clock work to move our union forward, the chance for a little sleep and a rest from my cell phone maybe aren't so bad.

Despite the fact that there is limited time left, ... we still expect that our contract will be resolved well before midnight tonight.

This contract between the MTA and the Transport Workers Union should have been a no-brainer. Sadly that has not been the case.

This is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement.

This is a fight over dignity and respect on the job, a concept that is very alien to the MTA. Transit workers are tired of being underappreciated and disrespected.

There will be nothing happening in the next few days. It is too early to say what happens now. This will take some time to figure out.

The remarks by Chairman Kalikow are very unfortunate and do not bode well for these negotiations.

They're not going to force a lousy contract down our throats. We have told them from the beginning that this contract will be negotiated by bargaining in good faith and not by threats and not by intimidation.

That is an insult to transit workers and an insult to every person in this city who depends on our bus and subway system.

still lots of opportunities to resolve the issues.

I'm pleased to announce that the local 100 executive board just voted overwhelmingly to direct transit workers to return to work immediately and to resume bus and subway service throughout the five boroughs in New York City.

If the pension demands ... come off the table, that would go a long way to us resuming the negotiations and resolving the strike.

I'll go in. Jail is not a problem.

If Gov. Pataki wants to play a constructive role he should get involved in these negotiations, and he should restore money to mass transit because ... the state government has taken out funds from mass transit ... (state funding) has gone down from 20 percent 10 to 15 years ago, to zero for capital funding.

The hearts and minds of New York's transit workers are with Matthew and the entire Long family; we are praying for his recovery.

The clock is ticking and we have almost run out of time. I'm going to leave here and go back to the hotel and give it one more shot.

An agreement will never ever, ever, ever be resolved by fear and intimidation.

The members came to doubt that the key benefits of the deal would be forthcoming.

The latest proposal is a very bad proposal and it remains to be seen how serious they are about this or whether they are trying to intimidate our members.

The Local 100 executive board has voted overwhelmingly to extend strike action to all MTA properties immediately.