‘Safety 1st’ rally blasts TWU chief
TRANSIT EMPLOYEES lit into a union official Wednesday for mentioning the size of a co-worker who died after a railing gave way in an East Harlem subway station.
Two dozen workers, chanting “Safety first,” filled the downtown platform of the 125th St. station at Lexington Ave. where St. Clair Zaire Stephens Richards, 23 (photo), died Tuesday. The workers called out Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano for connecting the track worker’s weight to his tragic fall.
“The railing is broke,” Utano said after the Tuesday incident. “He was a big worker, and the railing did break.”
Richards, who only had six months on the job, was described as being 6-foot-3 and 270 pounds. He died Tuesday morning at a hospital about an hour after falling 9 feet.
“Nobody put words in his mouth,” track worker Maurice Jackson said of Utano’s comments. “It just hurt me so much when our union president said, ‘Well, this guy was big and he fell through.’ What type of thing is that?”
Conductor Tramell Thompson, who is campaigning to replace Utano, said the workers need new leadership.
“Why did he bring up his weight, and not the infrastructure?” Thompson said. “Why didn’t he hold the MTA responsible?”
Hours earlier, NYC Transit President Andy Byford dispatched a team to inspect and replace railings in subway tunnels. He said “much tougher” railings made of fiberglass were installed overnight Tuesday in the tunnel and throughout the rest of the Lexington Ave. line.
TWU spokesman Pete Donohue said Utano met with the young track worker’s family to assure them the union will help them.
“These guys are playing politics with this young man’s tragic death,” Utano said in a statement. “It’s just horrible and disgraceful. This isn’t a time for politics. It’s time to plan a funeral and make sure the family is taken care of.”