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Suspect in Urine Attacks in Custody

Police have a suspect in custody in connection with the urine attacks on two female transit workers in the Bronx.

The man is suspected of tossing urine into the face of a Conductor and a Bus Operator in separate incidents on April 12th.

“This is great news for transit workers,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said. “A twisted individual targeted two of our members and committed these vile attacks while they were simply doing their jobs. He needed to be caught and locked up.

But the larger problem remains. Transit workers are getting assaulted, harassed and abused, physically and verbally, all the time. The city has to do much more to protect us.

In the subway, it seems like there are more and more people with serious problems on the trains and in the stations, and some of them pose a threat, not just to workers but our riders. This has to be addressed by City Hall.”

The first attack happened at about 10:30 a.m. on a No. 6 train as it idled at the platform. The second attack happened about an hour later nearby as the bus was halted at an intersection.

The police released video images of the suspect and TWU Local 100 distributed wanted posters in the area where the vile attacks took place.

Charges against the suspect are pending.

Police nab suspect in urine attacks on Bronx MTA workers

The pee-petrator splattered a 43-year-old female train conductor on an uptown No. 6 train at the Brook Ave.-E. 138th St. station. He struck again about 45 minutes later, dumping urine on MTA bus driver Trellis Robinson as she sat behind the wheel of a Bx1 bus at the Grand Concourse and 138th St., about 15 blocks from where the first incident occurred.

TWU Launches Main Table Talks with the MTA

TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano and the union’s elected Executive Committee launched main-table negotiations with the MTA Tuesday afternoon.

Utano was joined at negotiations by Secretary-Treasurer Earl Phillips, Recording Secretary Latonya Crisp, Administrative Vice President Nelson Rivera, and Vice Presidents John Chiarello, Richard Davis, Peter Rosconi, J.P. Patafio, Eric Loegel and Lynwood Whichard.  The union’s legal team of General Counsel Denis Engel, Legal Department Senior Director Deirdre Feerick and outside counsels Vincent Pitta and Arthur Schwartz sat alongside the union negotiators on the 29th floor conference room at 2 Broadway.

In his opening statement, Utano said that the Local 100 leadership and the union’s Contract Policy Committee, took great care in consolidating scores of the membership’s proposals into a document that truly reflects the needs of the membership.

This first main table meeting, attended on management’s side by Anita Miller, the MTA’s Chief Employee Relations officer, Veronique Hakim,  MTA managing director, Andy Byford, NYC Transit president, and other ranking labor relations and operating officers, was conducted in a respectful atmosphere.

Utano explained the rationale behind each of the union’s main table demands, which include raises, a reduction in disciplinary actions against workers, increased longevity pay, an improved dental plan hearing aids for retirees, and a request that the MTA join the union in supporting legislation in Albany for Tier 6 reform.

The MTA executives did not present any counter-demands.  They instead offered to set up a series of mutually agreeable dates to move forward on the negotiating process.

Statement by Local 100 President Tony Utano on the Stabbing of a Conductor on Easter Sunday

"One of our union brothers was stabbed in the abdomen and in the arm on the No. 4 express platform at the 149th Street station in the Bronx this morning. He has been hospitalized. He is now in stable condition. Union officers responded, and we will provide updates.

The police have made an arrest, and we demand that the full weight of the law now come down on this individual. We also demand that the city step up and make the subway safer for both workers and riders. We want to go to work and return to our families safe and sound.

The early reports indicate that the attacker is an emotionally disturbed person.  Too many of these unfortunate people use the subway system for refuge, and some of them pose a serious threat to workers and passengers, as was the case this morning.  The city is failing to address some very serious social issues, and it is falling well short of its responsibility to move these people from the subway system to proper shelters where they can receive the care and treatment they need."