New York, NY – IT TAKES TWO: Using contract language negotiated decades ago and other means, the TWU has consistently fought off attempts by MTA management to remove Conductors from subway trains.
A bill passed by the NY Legislature, now sitting on Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk, would enshrine in state law a requirement that both a Conductor and Train Operator be on board. Fiscal and transit “think tanks” and “experts” have recently ramped up their push for automation as a cost-cutting measure. Hochul’s office said recently it is reviewing the legislation.
“Conductors and the two person crews staffed by TWU Local 100 workers will be here for the long haul, providing a safer subway ride,” said TWU International President John Samuelsen.
In 2022, after a madman threw smoke grenades on a southbound N subway train and then began shooting, TWU conductors evacuated passengers onto other trains and out of harm’s way. In the minutes after the 9/11 attacks, TWU conductors ignored directives to skip stops to pick up passengers – ferrying people away from the danger zone. Every day, TWU conductors act as eyes and ears on the subway system, working with law enforcement to keep riders safe.
“Every working New Yorker on the train in 2022, 2001, and day in, day out, appreciates the importance of a two-person crew,” Samuelsen said. “Having an Operator and Conductor on board is a significant crime deterrent and a critical safety lifeline in times of danger. The TWU has no regard for the self-important opinions of academics or ‘transit advocates’ who think that cutting jobs is a good solution.”
CRITICAL SET OF EYES: As Conductor Lashawn Murray recently told ABC 7, he is a second set of eyes on the platform instead of the Operator who is focused on the path ahead. “The train operator’s job is to move the train,” Murray said. “My job is to make sure passengers get on properly so we are definitely needed.”
