A woman wearing a face mask walks along the 34th Hudson Yards Station (Photo by John Nacion / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
New York, NY (77WABC) – The union representing MTA Transit Workers are calling on the NYPD and elected officials to enforce harsher penalties against those who attempt to assault transit workers.
The call comes as 4 MTA workers were attacked in some way on Thursday within a span of a couple of hours across the city.
“TWU Local 100 is continuing its efforts to increase worker safety by demanding a greater police presence in the mass transit system,”
said TWU 100 Stations Vice-President Robert Kelley. “The NYPD added hundreds of officers to the subway earlier this year – but that’s not enough. More officers in the subway would deter more crime and speed police response to emergencies – and Mayor de Blasio also should direct police to ride buses to help protect Bus Operators.”
NYC’s Five District Attorneys Back Union Push To Raise Penalties For Spitting On Transit Workers
arrow MTA officers distribute masks in October 2020 Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit
The Transport Workers Union Local 100 is pushing the state to increase the penalties for spitting on transit workers. The union is calling on legislators to pass a proposal to increase the crime from a violation to a misdemeanor, which could be punished with up to a year in prison.
This comes as transit workers report an uptick in assaults while on the job, and ongoing fears of catching the coronavirus at work.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement during a press briefing on Monday.
Starting on Feb. 22, the overnight shutdown hours will be adjusted to 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., instead of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. The COVID numbers are down, so we adjust, we adjusted indoor dining, the curfew, today we are going to discuss the MTA and increasing the capacity, Cuomo said.
The governor said during those overnight hours, the trains will still be cleared and sanitized. CDC says it, health experts say it, the COVID virus is not transmitted as much as they initially suggested on surfaces but it still can be transmitted, Cuomo said. You want to be safe in the MTA system from crime and COVID. When you are as old as I am, the trains have never been as clean as they are now.