A Transport Workers Union vice president is facing a union trial Friday on claims he improperly tried to discipline a bus driver for allegedly cheating on his wife — who also drives a bus — with yet another MTA bus driver, according to records obtained by The Post.
His alleged attempt to untangle the messy love triangle at the Fresh Pond bus depot in Ridgewood, Queens, was a case of no good deed goes unpunished, TWU Local 100 VP John Paul Patafio said, according to the union proceeding documents.
Patafio called on Gary Archibald, a bus driver and TWU Local100 vice chairman at the Fresh Pond depot, to stop cheating on his wife, Canisha Catin Mitchell, with another driver, Loshana Welcome, records show.
Patafio said he intervened at the behest of Archibald’s wife — who, as a driver made a complaint to the union — and now he’s the one who’s facing disciplinary charges.
Patafio — who was facing possible suspension or loss of his position — claimed he was being punished for doing the right thing.
“His [Archibald’s] actions are an embarrassment to our union. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he accuses me of abusing my power,” Patafio said in a letter sent to TWU leaders in June, obtained by The Post.
Patafio wrote in a letter to TWU officials that Archibald was blaming him for his philandering “like an alcoholic blaming others for causing him to drink.”
He claimed there was an agreement that the other female operator — the paramour who had about a year on the job — would be reassigned to another depot and Archibald would “step away from union duties to get his personal and professional life together. Due to the sensitive nature of the problem it would be kept private,” Patafio said.
Instead, Archibald turned the table and filed a complaint against Patafio on July 8 with union recording secretary Shirley Martin.
Mitchell blew the whistle on her husband in a June 1 note to her bus depot supervisor.
“I have been out of work, and upon my return I learned that my husband, Gary Archibald, who is the Vice Chair of the Union at the depot is having an affair with another bus operator whose name is Loshana Welcome,” Mitchell claimed.
“This same individual has been harassing me, and the situation has become overwhelming. I am now requesting that the harassment stop and that she stay away from him as this situation is not healthy or appropriate for anyone involved,” she said in the letter obtained by The Post.
In a zinger leveled at her husband, Mitchell said, “I also note that it is inappropriate for union leaders to be involved with union members.”
For his part, Archibald admitted he screwed around with another bus driver while filing his complaint against Patafio, for trying to discipline him for a personal, not a union-related issue.
Archibald said Patafio should have butted out.
“I cheated on my wife. Let’s have that out in the open,” Archibald said in his July 8 complaint.
He said he refused to step aside from union duties for six months at the request of Patafio.
“I said no…There are no accusations regarding overtime or violence,” said Archibald, adding that he and his wife “were dealing with” his cheating and marital woes.
“He has no right to `take me out’ just because he’s the VP. No one has brought charges against me because I haven’t done anything wrong,” Archibald said.
Archibald also claimed Patafio also was trying to “intimidate” him because he endorsed a union candidate he opposed.
In a July 25 letter to the TWU Local 100 executive board, union counsel Denis Engel recommended that Patafio face a union trial because the complaint, if true, violates its constitution.
“Archibald’s assertion, that Patafio has no right to remove him (or to threaten to remove him) from office, is accurate,” Engel said.
The union lawyer also said that Archibald’s claim Patafio was “exposing a personal matter (between him and his wife) as a coercion” to resign or agree to a suspension without charges being filed would be improper.
Former TWU Local 100 president Richard Davis recently resigned following allegations of sexual misconduct, and Patafio said the married Archibald having sex with an underling is another black eye for the union.
“We don’t need or want this type of behavior going on in our union,” Patafio said.
He said Archibald’s wife called him because “she was desperate to have her problem addressed.”
Mitchell declined to comment and a woman who identified herself as Loshana Welcome also declined when a Post reporter called Thursday. Archibald did not return requests for comment.
A TWU Local 100 rep said, “Internal charges have been filed against a vice president, and the matter is being handled through a trial process outlined in our Constitution and Bylaws. We have no further comment at this time.”
Patafio’s disciplinary trial is scheduled for Friday.
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