Judge Halts MTA Closing Token Booths
Earlier this morning, I wrote about how the MTA was to announce more job cuts today, on top of the 475 token booth clerk jobs that were to be eliminated starting today. However those 475 jobs are safe for now as Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger signed a short term restraining order preventing the MTA from going through with the closures. Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News had more in this brief report:
Hundreds of token booth clerks’s jobs are safe until at least next week after a judge slammed the brakes on token booth closings early Thursday morning.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Alice Schlesinger signed a temporary restraining order barring the MTA from going through with the closures of dozens of booths — and therefore the layoffs of 475 clerks — after union lawyers argued the Metropolitan Transportation Authority failed to follow legally required steps like holding additional public hearings.
Schlesinger, who heard testimony from management and union lawyers in her home after the courts shut down Wednesday night, scheduled further arguments for Thursday morning, but Justice Saliann Scarpulla declined to hear the testimony.
So the restraining order remains in effect until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. “These colors fight back!”
Transport Workers Union Local 100 members yelled outside the courtroom.
“Every one is ecstatic,” said clerk Jhesky Vega, one of the pink-slipped workers notified of the reprieve by the agency before dawn.
The MTA had directed the 475 clerks to go to a NYC Transit training center Thursday to turn in their badges, uniforms and other equipment.
Click here for the complete report.
I won’t get excited about this sudden change as the restraining order is temporary. For all we know, the booth closures & layoffs will eventually go through as planned. The solution to prevent situations like this are not going to come from judges or arbitration panels. Until our elected leaders stop playing games & find a way to create sustainable funding solutions, layoffs, service cuts, & fare hikes will be the only course of action the MTA can realistically take.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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[…] deficit. The first round of cuts were to have started this past Wednesday, but a judge issued a temporary restraining order against the MTA closing the booths. Yesterday evening, the MTA issued a brief press release to give […]