Utano, RTO VP Loegel Blast MTA Chairman Foye

JULY 26 -- TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano and RTO Vice President Eric Loegel are blasting MTA Chairman Pat Foye for again putting transit workers in a negative light. At the MTA board meeting Wednesday, Foye blamed transit workers for a “low level of availability.”  In a statement sent to reporters and newspaper editorial pages, President Utano said:

"MTA Chairman Pat Foye should spend less time grandstanding for the press and more time negotiating a contract for the men and women who do all the work around here. I’m offended and angry that he would have the nerve to say transit workers are taking too much time off, suggesting once again that transit workers are ripping off the system. The chairman is either clueless or callous. Maybe both. Either way, the only thing he is succeeding at doing is pissing off the entire workforce. If Foye wants to improve worker availability, he should declare a Zero Tolerance approach to worker assaults and lay out a comprehensive multi-faceted plan, once and for all, to stop the onslaught of spitting, punching and other abuse that comes our way for wearing the MTA uniform.  Adding extra cops was a good first step, but more needs to be done. No one can do his or her job from the emergency room.

"If Foye really wants to improve employee availability, he should also tell his managers to stop taking our members out of service for petty or bogus infractions. They put workers out on the street and then complain they aren’t working. You can’t make this stuff up."

RTO V.P. Loegel said: "I firmly reject Chairman Foye’s characterization that our contract gives our members “too much” time off. All workers, regardless of occupation, deserve a healthy work-life balance. We do dirty, dangerous, safety-sensitive jobs and need sufficient time to recover. We have to contend with poor air quality, fumes, biological waste, physical hazards, and rampant assaults. Our work schedules are often grueling with short breaks, missed lunches, and long hours. While discipline is improving, Transit is still quick to give workers days in the street for nonsense. The medical department is also quick to restrict employees from work, for ailments that are otherwise under control. The MTA needs to address the systemic problems impacting the membership. Portraying transit workers as spoiled or lazy is not only insulting and offensive— it’s just plain false."