Building

Since the mirage of the purchase of the property at 350 Schemerhorn is dead, nothing has been revealed by John Samuelsen. It is his duty to communicate all the costs that were incurred to the membership. The past excuse that there was no one in the financial secretary-treasurer position is no longer valid to withhold that information to the membership. The confidentiality clause would not suffice either thus the report must come at the earnest. We are not interested in the content of the reports, however, we are interested in how much those reports cost us since John Samuelsen with his TBOU will claim there is a confidentiality clause.

Lets discuss the confidentiality clause which is intended to protect the seller in the event that the content of those reports were released to the public and if they cause harm to the seller properties then he would seek to be made whole. However that does not give the seller the right to deny the membership of TWU Local 100 to know how much those reports cost. So John Samuelsen cannot use the confidentiality clause excuse infinitely and should reveal the numbers without any further delay.

The cost of those assessment test reports, engineering reports, asbestos test reports and numerous other test reports including the air quality test reports did not come freely - the numbers must be revealed. If those numbers are not revealed how much money of our hard earned dues was spent, and which companies or agencies performed those tests?

Whether there were legal charges, they too must be revealed - we are also aware that those figures may fall outside of purview of the current appointed financial secretary -treasurer. However as required by the bylaws of the Transport Workers Union of Greater New York Local 100, AFL-CIO article VI Financial Secretary-Treasurer‘...He shall deliver the original receipt...He shall report...to the Executive Board the monies received and paid out and the balance remaining on deposit... this matter is serious enough for John Samuelsen to furnish those numbers promptly. There is no way around it - clearly for some period there was a vacant financial secretary-treasurer position that excuse is no longer valid now.

We will honor the excuse of the confidentiality clause which covers the content of the reports as related to the purchase the property. However that confidentiality does not cover how much those reports cost the membership - we would care less what was the content of those useless reports however we would like to know how much those reports cost us. Thus an accounting must be brought forward - we cannot move forward while the cost of those reports are not revealed - it only raises a huge red flag of misappropriating membership funds.

Birds of feather flock together

Why does Samuelsen not file charges against Roger Toussaint, the former president of the TWU Local 100? Or refer any investigation on the basis that he sold the union building and let justice take its course? You can surmise there is a quid pro quo. There are numerous questions that Samuelsen and Toussaint need to answer such as how much was the building sold for? Who was the buyer? Where was the money? What was the reason the building was sold? This bogus notion that TWU Local 100 was a financially weak organization that needed to sell its building in order to stay afloat is hokum.

It is clear Toussaint totally controlled this puppet Samuelsen, the question is why wasn’t the sale of the building not referred to the District Attorney for investigation?

Samuelsen is ethically challenged based on his inability to refer the matter to the justice he becomes a loyal lapdog to Toussaint. We would like to see Toussaint questioned on the financing of the sale of the building and let the law take its course. We have faith in the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr because he will not be bought and he is guaranteed to find the wrong doing. Samuelsen should be embarrassed for his inaction on this matter and the membership should be outraged at him. He must come clean and let the law look and shed light in the dark dealings that went on and let the wrongdoer go to Rikers Island.

The membership must be made whole. First Samuelsen must provide a detailed financial report from the time of the sale of the building up to date on every penny showing in detail why and how they were utilized based on documents at hand. Second Samuelsen must refer the matter to the law for investigation, his inability to do either will only cast a dark cloud over TWU Local 100 as a troubled union.

What is a hidden agenda between the birds of feather who flock together? We call for a full investigation of the sale of the property, for violations of law and violation of the standards of fair and open government. It is time to look into the TWU Local 100 and open up their shenanigans to the membership for scrutiny. Samuelsen is compromised by putting loyalty to Toussaint ahead of the interests of the membership.