An MTA plan to eliminate 185 subway jobs by shutting down token booths when station agents take lunch breaks drew a lawsuit by the workers’ union.
Transport Workers Union Local 100 says the daily shutdowns will leave booths unmanned for a half-hour three times a day, reducing public safety.
“Crime is up across the city, and to take transit workers out of their jobs and leave stations totally unmanned for even a few hours a day is unconscionable on the MTA’s part, and should be immediately reversed,” said Local 100 President Tony Utano.
The 185 workers to be eliminated are “lunch relief” station agents, Local 100 says. Every day, the lunch relief workers stop by six to eight token booths to cover for clerks taking their half-hour lunch breaks, says the union.
When the lunch relief jobs are cut, “for between 1,110 and 1,480 half hour periods each week, booths in every subway station will be locked and closed,” the union says.
The union said its suit is filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“This baseless lawsuit comes at a time when the MTA is facing the worst financial crisis in its history,” said MTA spokeswoman Abbey Collins. “We will fight these allegations vigorously in court.”
