Brutal NYC train operator stabbing prompts calls from transit worker for MTA to ramp up safety on subway lines
The city’s largest transit workers’ union is demanding that the MTA ramp up safety measures at the end of subway lines in the wake of the brutal stabbing of train operator Myran Pollack in Brooklyn last week. Members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 – which represents more than 40,000 bus and subway workers – rallied Thursday outside the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue station at the end of the No.4 line, the same stop where a recidivist attacker stabbed 60-year-old Pollack twice on Oct.
8. “We need real action now.Our members are facing unacceptable dangers, and the current policies just aren’t cutting it,” Richard Davis, President of TWU Local 100, said in a statement. “It’s time for the MTA to step up and take responsibility for protecting the workers who keep this city running.”The union is pushing for a change to regulations so that transit employees no longer work alone while taking trains out of service. They are urging that conductors and train operators walk the cleared-out train together to ensure that no passengers are still on board. Over the past three years, 31 MTA workers have been assaulted while cleaning out trains, “further proving the urgent need for safety reforms,” the union said. In Pollack’s case, he was attempting to clean out the train alone when he asked lingering passenger Jonathan Davalos, 27, to leave, authorities said. Instead of complying, Davalos allegedly flew into a rage, following Pollack onto the platform before attacking him so viciously that he required at least two surgeries. The union is also calling for MTA police to be present at all stations where trains are evacuated – so that they are on hand to help if passengers turn violent.“These aren’t just suggestions—they’re life-saving measures,” Canella Gomez, TWU Local 100 Rapid Transit Operations Vice President said in a statement.
“Our members should never have to face these dangers alone.We need stronger policies and fas...