Union bigs squawk at MTA’s Foye
according to prosecutors.
Court papers say the mother and son collected $259 (plus $27.75 for shipping) in return for 3 pounds of apricot seeds, three bottles of vitamins and a DVD about their “cure.”
Jason Vale was hospitalized with undisclosed issues and didn’t appear in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Authorities said he was contacted by phone by Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara and advised of the conditions of his $100,000 bond. At her court appearance, Vale’s 77-year-old mother was released on a $100,000 bond.
Neighbors came to the defense of both mother and son.
“Wonderful people,” said neighbor Deneille Loprete. “Fabulous. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m sick to think this is happening. Jason Vale is a religious Christian person. He’s been very sick.”
“He’s a super nice guy, said neighbor Mike Makowski. “He would give you the shirt off his back. He’s not trying to scam anyone. He really thinks apricots are the cure. He calls it ‘the answer to cancer.’ ”
An official from New York City’s largest transit workers union on Wednesday threatened to “tar and feather” the head of the MTA amid bitter contract negotiations.
More than a dozen representatives from Transport Workers Union Local 100 lambasted Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Patrick Foye during the public comment period at the agency’s monthly board meeting.
Several union officials took issue with an email Foye sent earlier this month to Local 100 president Tony Utano in which he accused the union boss of running a “Utano Specialty Drug Scam.”
One union officer turned heads at the meeting when he threatened to pour boiling hot tar on Foye’s skin and cover him with loose plumage.
“That man [Foye] there is a liar,” said J.P. Patafio, Local 100’s head of Brooklyn buses. “You just p—-ed us off and I welcome you to come downstairs on Oct. 30 because we’ll have some tar and feathers for him. That’s what you do to a fool. You put some tar and feathers on him.”
Local 100 plans to hold a rally outside of the MTA’s lower Manhattan headquarters on Oct. 30. The two sides have been without a contract since May 15.
Foye will be “working in his office” during the demonstration, according to MTA spokesman Tim Minton.
Patafio said during one meeting with the chairman, Foye agreed to a deal with Payer Matrix, a company that said it could save the MTA $50 million a year in health care.
But Foye later sent a fiery email to Utano that claimed the company’s offer was a “scam,” and said that the two sides should focus on negotiating a fair contract.
“If I wanted a job where I was universally loved I would’ve done something else,” Foye said after Wednesday’s board meeting. “It goes with the job.”
One MTA board member told the Daily News that the union “has no idea how good they’ve got it with Pat [Foye].”
“Most of the board was comfortable with a 0 to 1% pay increase,” the member said. “Pat is the one who wanted higher.”