NYC TRANSIT'S ATTITUDE ISSUE

NYC Transit's Attitude Issue

Interviews with transit workers last week indicated that many believe that job conditions have not improved significantly since the 2005 strike partly spurred by anger over what they believed was heavy-handed discipline by New York City Transit managers.

Governor Spitzer, who was elected with the backing of the transit unions, has sought to set a better labor-management tone. His appointee as chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Lee Sander, chose Howard Roberts, who had been well-liked by Transport Workers Union Local 100 when he held a top management position two decades ago, as President of NYC Transit.

But employees told reporter Ari Paul that even the deaths of two Track Workers this spring had not eliminated some unsafe conditions in the subways, and that little was being done to address health hazards. They also complained that some supervisors continued to act as petty tyrants in meting out discipline for minor infractions.

Local 100 has reported good responses from Mr. Roberts when it brought issues directly to him, and so it appears possible that problems persist because the message about a smoother working relationship between labor and management hasn't filtered down sufficiently to some supervisors in the field. Either that, or they have been slow to adapt to a less-confrontational style.

Change never happens overnight in a large agency like NYC Transit. But if at the end of the first year of the new regime there are complaints that it hasn't occurred at all, management has to take note. If it expects workers to bring a positive attitude to their jobs, it has to begin breaking through the mistrust that has built up.