NY: Governor Vetoes Bill Mandating 2-Person Passenger Rail Crews

Transit Worker Correspondent

New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill on December 19 that would have mandated that the NYC transit agency Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) maintain conductors on every subway train in addition to a driver. The mandate was supported by the transit workers’ union, Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, which pushed it as a way to defend the jobs of 3,600 MTA train conductors and the safety of workers and passengers. Conductors control doors, announce stops, and patrol train cars for safety or mechanical issues.

In response to the veto, TWU’s international president John Samuelson said the union would strike against attempts to remove conductors, as cited in monopoly rag The New York Times, and stated: “They [MTA] are not going to get rid of the conductors.” It is unclear if Samuelson means the union brass will draw a line in the sand defending the conductor position now that their legislative move has been derailed, or whether he simply trusts the company not to engage in mass layoffs.

Currently, most MTA trains are manned by two-person crews, while some shorter trains have only a driver. In opposition to maintaining and expanding two-person train crews, the governor as well as business lobbyists like the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC)—a sordid collection of monopoly interests—cited an estimated $10 million/year cost to expand two-person crews to the shorter trains.

The CBC is calling to “modernize” passenger rail through automation, what would amount to mass layoffs and job loss through attrition for transit workers. According to TWU brass, the MTA has already signaled a plan to move toward completely automated trains, and the New York Times says the agency has begun installing automation tech on some train lines.

An MTA conductor spoke with The Worker about safety concerns regarding the moves to eliminate conductors, saying, “One person crews would be a dangerous situation; it usually takes a 2-man crew to evacuate the train” in case of emergencies.

“We get a lot of passengers that get heart attacks, seizures; fights break out where people get stabbed; I’ve had to call EMS who got to people just in time who had a heart attack,” because he has a two person crew.

Mechanical problems such as jammed doors are also dealt with by the conductor, according to the MTA worker. Drivers working alone would have to deal with these issues on top of their driving duties, indicating the general rule that layoffs mean an increase in labor intensity for workers who remain.

According to MTA workers who spoke with The Worker, one-person crews would also mean more delays and heightened tensions between riders and transit workers, which the MTA already tries to pit against each other while they decrease safety across the board, hike fare, and oppose workers’ demands.

A retired MTA bus driver and union activist told The Worker that the drive against conductors is also an attack on the union, saying: “The union is the most powerful weapon for all workers. That’s why they created the Taylor Law [a New York state law prohibiting strikes by public employees]. The only way you can change the law is to break the law. You say I can’t strike, I’m going to strike. There are certain things I have to pay to do it and I’ll pay it.”

Image: A conductor poses for the camera in a snow storm in 2021. MTA photo by Marc A. Hermann, Wikimedia Commons

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