Court Puts Booth Closings on Hold

Judge Scarpulla’s decision is a victory for safety and security in our subways. Events in recent months, including the aborted bombing of the subways by admitted al Qaeda terrorist Najibullah Zazi, and the near tragedy in Times Square in early May, underscore TWU’s position that holding new hearings on the booth closings is in the best interest of the millions of people who use the subways every day. It’s also an important reprieve for the Station Agents who have had the layoff axe hanging over their heads for the past five months.

In the meantime, we will redouble our efforts to gain passage of the Public Transportation Preservation Act of 2010 (the bill introduced by Sanators Dodd (D-CT), Schumer (D-NY) and Gillibrand (D-NY), S.3412) that would provide $2 billion in new mass transit operating assistance to cash-starved transit agencies) to keep the booths open permanently and ward off all future job and service cuts.