The city’s largest union for transit workers is demanding that the MTA step up security measures at the end of subway lines in the wake of the brutal stabbing of train driver Myran Pollack in Brooklyn last week.
Members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 — which represents more than 40,000 bus and subway workers — gathered Thursday outside the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue station at the end of the No. 4 line, the same stop where a repeat offender was stabbed 60 years ago . -old Pollack twice on October 8.
“We need real action now. Our members face unacceptable dangers, and current policies have failed to address that,” Richard Davis, president of TWU Local 100, said in a statement.
“It is time for the MTA to take action and take responsibility for protecting the workers who keep this city running.”
The union is calling for a change in regulations so that transit workers no longer work alone when the train is taken out of service.
They insist that conductors and train drivers run the cleared train together to ensure that no passengers are already on board.
Over the past three years, 31 MTA workers have been attacked while cleaning trains, “further demonstrating the urgent need for safety reforms,” the union said.
In Pollack’s case, he was trying to clear the train alone when he asked 27-year-old passenger Jonathan Davalos to leave, authorities said.
Instead of complying, Davalos reportedly became enraged and followed 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 being evacuated – so they are ready to help if passengers become violent.
“These are not just suggestions, they are life-saving measures,” Canella Gomez, vice president of TWU Local 100 Rapid Transit Operations, said in a statement. “Our members should never have to face these dangers alone. We need stronger policies and faster responses to protect our people.”
Union members are additionally pushing for frequent meetings between top officials of the MTA and TWU Local 100 “to review and implement enhanced safety protocols for frontline workers.”
“Transit workers must be respected and protected!” union members sang during Thursday’s meeting. “Enough is enough!”
Some held signs that read: “We don’t come to work to be punching bags” and “Were you safe today or were you just lucky?”
The latest data from the NYPD – which covers the period from January 1 to October 6 – shows that the number of attacks on MTA subway workers in the city fell from 44 in the same period in 2023 to 30.
In one such incident last month, Robert Ray, 33, randomly punched a female station officer in the face in Midtown, claiming he did it because “the voices in my head were talking to me,” prosecutors said.
In late May, an on-duty MTA conductor was punched in the face while trying to break up a fight at a Queens subway station, authorities said.
Earlier that month, a train driver was clearing a Queens train of passengers so it could be taken to a stop when a crazed commuter attacked him, slamming him into the floor of the car, police said.
Another conductor was randomly hit in the head with a glass bottle by an unruly stranger in the Bronx in March, police said.
Interim NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow did not directly address the union’s demands, but said the MTA is working to keep repeat offenders off the streets.
“Prior to his horrific attack on a train driver, Jonathan Davalos had attacked another subway worker and a passenger on separate days,” Crichlow said in a statement Friday.
“This repeat behavior is why the MTA in Albany has fought for tougher penalties for crimes that occur on public transportation, and why we insist on the most aggressive prosecution when employees, customers and police are attacked,” the statement said.
“We are pleased that TWU Local 100 is joining that effort, and that we have their support for the NYPD and prosecutors as they work to ensure the maximum possible consequences are imposed.”
An agency spokesperson said the MTA will continue to discuss safety issues with its “labor partners.”
