The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will give 750 workers new meaning to the term "Independence Day" this July -- by laying them off.
The MTA filed the legally-required alert with the state Labor Department this week, stating they will lay off hundreds of their employees. The cuts are the result of severe budget problems and are just the latest cuts planned by the massive transportation department.
Most of these employees will come from the department's bus division and will coincide with massive service cuts, including the elimination of buses and the V and W subway lines. These cuts are expected to save the MTA $93 million.
Around 500 subway agents will also lose their jobs in the coming month as part of a plan previously announced by the MTA. The number of administration workers will also be reduced by 500 through layoffs and buyouts, saving about $65 million.
Transit Workers Union Local 100, who represent the majority of the city's transit employees, spoke out against the MTA's plan for
massive cuts
“I don’t think the layoffs are necessary,” John Samuelsen, president of the TWU, told The New York Times. He also added that he didn't feel the layoffs were necessary, considering the service cuts being made by the authority.
“They are sitting on the money and causing New York’s working families great amounts of pain,” he said.
