Congress Member Adriano Espaillat sued the MTA on Thursday in an attempt to prevent the agency from moving forward with a plan to remove attendants from elevators at upper Manhattan subway stations.
Espaillat, together with a cadre of local electeds, Transport Workers Union Local 100, and disabled TWU employees, filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday aiming to stop the removal of staff from elevators at uptown stations on the 1 and A lines, which are some of the deepest belowground in the system. The move is set to go into effect on Sunday, July 16.
The plaintiffs say the MTA’s plan violates the state’s Public Authorities Law, which requires public notice and hearings in advance of plans to reduce or eliminate transit service. They also say the MTA is violating the city’s Human Rights Law, since the elevator attendants set to be removed have disabilities.
“I find it disheartening that the MTA is moving forward with its decision to remove attendants from the elevators at five subway stations in Washington Heights, many of which have been in place for seven decades,” Espaillat said in a statement. “Attendants provide an invaluable service to riders with disabilities and others who need assistance navigating these stations deep below street level. Additionally, this decision will impact dedicated subway workers, who will lose their jobs following their years of service to the MTA and these stations.”
“I am urging the MTA to solicit community input before decisions of this magnitude are made,” the congressman continued. “This decision regarding elevator attendants directly affects the public — yet, it was arrived at with little to no consideration from the public.”
The staffers are all officially on MTA payroll as station cleaners, but for decades, disabled employees have been able to go on “restricted duty” manning the elevators, according to TWU. If that’s no longer the case, the workers say they will be reassigned to…
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