Transit Cleaner Assault Bill Building Support in Albany
Transit lives matter.
A bus load of subway cleaners, TWU Local 100 officers and union staffers brought that message to state legislators in Albany on Thursday, May 26. The contingent urged Assembly members and Senators to support a bill stiffening the maximum penalty for assaulting subway cleaners. The Cleaner Assault Bill would put CTAs in the same protected status as police officers, traffic agents, subway operators, bus operators and critical public sector job titles.
Violators can be hit with a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
“Our lives matter,” Regina Herring, recording secretary of the CTA section, said during a meeting in Assemblyman Nick Perry’s office. “We want to do our jobs and go home to our families safe.” Joe Bermudez, chairman of the Stations Division, told Perry’s stop staffer that a week doesn’t go by without him being notified of a cleaner being verbally or physically attacked. Elevating the crime from a mere misdemeanor to a felony will send a strong message and could deter such attacks, he said. “It’s time our elected officials step up to the plate and do something for the working person,” Bermudez said.
Assemblyman Michael Blake (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Feliz Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) also took time to listen to the Local 100 group, led by Political Action Director Marvin Holland, and quickly pledged their support. “That’s an easy one,” Blake said. “You can put me down as a sponsor.”
So far, 17 members of the state Legislature have signed onto the bill (A10048A in the Assembly, and S04550A in the Senate). Assemblywoman Diana C. Richardson (D-Brooklyn) and Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) introduced the bill in their respective chambers.