NY transit workers rally for safety, new contract

TWU Local 100

NEW YORK — Several thousand New York transit workers, members of Transport Workers Union Local 100, rallied in front of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s headquarters here Nov. 15 as negotiations begin two months before the expiration of their contract.

Local 100 represents 38,000 workers who operate a system that provides more than 7.7 million trips on an average weekday.

Safety is a big concern for many MTA workers, as it was in the Philadelphia transit workers’ strike earlier this month. Subway track worker Louis Gray was killed Nov. 3 in Brooklyn when a train struck him. His co-worker Jeffrey Fleming was injured.

“To me safety has gotten worse, for workers and riders,” bus operator Shawndel Adams, 40, told the Militant. “We need the newer buses with better ramps, especially for the seniors.”

— MAGGIE TROWE