M.T.A. Workers, Upset Over Subway Safety, Disrupt Morning Service
New York City Transit workers, responding to an overnight slashing attack that injured a train conductor, stopped work to file safety complaints on Thursday morning, causing severe disruptions in subway service.
The slashing occurred at about 3:40 a.m. on a southbound A train in Brooklyn. During the morning rush hours, workers staged the job action at the 207th Street station on the A line and the 168th Street station on the A and C lines in Manhattan. The workers declined to fulfill their assigned jobs, leading to the disruptions, according to two transit officials with knowledge of the situation.
The attack on Thursday further inflamed long-simmering complaints that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that operates the transit system, has not done enough to guarantee worker safety.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, union leaders said that transit workers and union representatives had submitted safety forms following the attack in the morning — a procedure allowed by their contract — and that trains had experienced delays as a result. A major concern was the lack of police presence in the subway station following the Brooklyn attack, they said.
Several transit workers have been assaulted while on the job in recent weeks, leading union leaders to ask that more transit officers be added to the stations. On Valentine’s Day, a station agent’s eye socket was fractured after a man followed her down a platform and punched her. In a separate episode, a conductor was hit in the face with a tennis ball, according to reports.
In a news release, Richard Davis, the president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, said employees were deeply concerned about their safety. “We need better protection now, before we lose one of our own.”
In the early Thursday attack, a conductor, Alton Scott, was assaulted while on duty at the Rockaway Avenue subway station on the A line at Fulton Street in Brooklyn, according to a news release from Local 100. Mr. Scott, 59, who has worked for the authority for 24 years, was taken to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center where he received 34 stitches.
Demetrius Crichlow, senior vice president of subways at the M.T.A., said transit passengers, including a doctor, had aided Mr. Scott after the attack.
“This is a cowardly act,” Mr. Crichlow said at a news conference in front of Brookdale Hospital on Thursday morning. “There is no circumstance where an employee who is just doing his job should have to deal with this,” he added.
Wesley Parnell contributed reporting.
