An MTA plan to reassign 19 elevator operators at stations in Washington Heights poses a safety risk to riders with disabilities, a new lawsuit argued on Thursday.
The elevator operator jobs at four stations along the A and 1 train lines are due to be eliminated on Sunday. Though the elevators are fully automated, the lawsuit argues the operators – most of whom are disabled themselves – serve an important role by assisting straphangers with disabilities.
“They are going to lose the assistance of the elevator operator,” said Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer for the union suing TWU Local 100. “These elevators are not exactly set up with low-lying buttons or buttons that identify something in Braille.”
A host of elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and the 504 Democratic Club, which advocates on behalf of people with disabilities, joined the suit, which was brought by a disabled rider and affected MTA employees.
The workers argued the planned “reassignment” will actually put them out of work because they are unable to perform the new duties offered by the MTA. The workers are assigned to the elevators because they can no longer handle “mopping, scraping and cleaning a subway station,” according to the suit.
The suit further claims that all riders will be less safe without elevator operators being the “eyes and ears” in the stations deep underground.
“There’s a lot of concern in the local neighborhood about how these elevators will now be unsafe after Sunday,” Schwartz said.
A ride in the elevators takes more than one minute.
The suit asks a judge to pause the reassignments until the case is considered.
The MTA, which is $48 billion in debt, plans to raise fares this summer after narrowly avoiding a financial cliff.
MTA spokesperson Joana Flores said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit.
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