Transit workers rally at Brooklyn Bridge to battle subway assaults

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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/transit-workers-rally-brooklyn-bridge-fight-subway-assaults-article-1.3994289

 

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Transit workers rally at Brooklyn Bridge to battle subway assaults

By DAN RIVOLI 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

MAY 17, 2018 | 1:19 AM

 

Transit workers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday to raise awareness for assaults in the subway system.

About two dozen workers walked across the landmark from the Transport Workers Union Local 100 office in Brooklyn to Metropolitan Transportation Authority headquarters in lower Manhattan.

They held signs that read, "The MTA don't care about us" and "An injury to one is an injury to all. Transit workers deserve safety and respect."

Trevor Logan, a train operator, recalled a run in he experienced as a rookie transit worker about four years ago.

Logan was at the end of the C line at Euclid Ave. in Brooklyn when a rider hurled a beer can at him while he cleaned the car.

He was surprised when he realized two other transit workers were accosted that same evening.

"I didn't know assaults were happening at the rate they were," he said.

"It's not taken as seriously," Logan said. "Without us, the city don't move."

Tramell Thompson, who is running for TWU president under Progressive Action, said the MTA takes the threats of assault lightly.

"There's no awareness on assaults," he said.

Rosalind Livingston, a station cleaner, wants a larger police presence for vulnerable workers, like cleaners, and more notices about laws against harming transit employees.

In 1998, early in her tenure with the MTA, a woman kicked her while on the job. Livingston never reported it.

"You have to watch your back," she said. "The public needs to know they will be held accountable for their actions."

MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said that safety for its workforce and passengers is a top priority. The agency did not provide statistics on assaults.

"We work closely with the NYPD and labor unions like TWU to help ensure that," he said.

 

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Supposedly there ARE more NYPD riding the trains. I had one ride with me on the train the other night. They got off with me at 161st. With that said, I don't see what more signs or announcements are going to do. They bombard us on the express bus with those announcements when it's a known fact that express bus riders aren't the ones assaulting transit workers. Filing a complaint or speaking to a worker isn't the same as assault. The assaults are happening on the local buses and subways. Put the signs there and announce them there.