When the MTA Board voted to cut hundreds of unionized station agents, TWU President John Samuelsen vowed to fight the cuts. On Friday, according to one report, he and other TWU members may have begun that fight with a procedural move that slowed down bus service in Queens during the morning commute.
According to Pete Donohue of The Daily News, a series of spot inspections at the College Point bus depot led to 16 route cancellations and 64 delays of over an hour as Queens commuters waiting for the bus. Some union leaders claimed this move was simply for the security and safety of drivers and passengers while others said it was a strike at the MTA. Writes Donohue:
Before dawn at the College Point bus depot, union officers conducted spot inspections on buses heading to the only exit. Citing equipment defects, union officers and staff delayed 64 buses by more than an hour, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority confirmed. The scheduled runs of an additional 16 buses were canceled by managers because of the logjam, the MTA said. All told, about one-third of the depot’s available fleet was affected by what sources said was the biggest action of its kind in years….
[Samuelsen] maintained the equipment inspections were not connected to MTA plans to let go up to 500 token booth clerks and bus drivers later this year. “The union has an obligation to provide a safe workplace for our members and a safe bus for the riders, and by doing these inspections, we’re living up to our obligation,” Samuelsen said.
The union inspections Friday did reveal numerous defects in turn signals, wheelchair lifts and headlights, Samuelsen claimed. But a source familiar with the inspections acknowledged, “This is the union’s way of flexing its muscles.” Since January, the union has conducted several bus checks at other depots, according to the union. While it’s illegal for a union to intentionally slow service as a show of force, it can be difficult to prove.
These allegations remind me of my bus experiences on Saturday night. I rode the B71 — a route soon to be eliminated — from Park Slope to Carroll Gardens, and as my girlfriend and I prepared to exit the bus, we started chatting with the driver about the impending extinction of his bus. He started bemoaning the high salaries earned by those at the top of the MTA management chain and said that those people should take paycuts first. I didn’t want to start a debate by telling him that those managers are taking cuts and losing jobs while any remaining TWU employees will get to enjoy their raises this year. We had to get off the bus, and it wasn’t worth the fight.
Still, as the union may or may not be hitting back at the MTA, the truth remains that, until Albany finds a way to fund public transportation in New York City, everyone will feel the pain. Management will be reduced; union members will lose their jobs; passengers will see bus and subway service cut. Sometimes, we fall into a “union-vs.-management” framework, but as long as the MTA remains on the edge of financial ruin, everyone loses.
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