MTA can’t ax booth clerks without hearing

The MTA cannot slash dozens of jobs in subway token booths without holding lengthy public hearings, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday.

The agency says it will hold public hearings in line with the judge’s decision in hope of moving ahead with plans to cut 150 “lunch relief” positions held by people who fill in at token booths while their staffs take 30-minute breaks.

The MTA’s plans would leave all 470 of the subway’s token booths empty for 90 minutes each day.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 joined disability advocate Michael Schweinsberg and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) in a lawsuit to block the job cuts.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Franc Perry on Thursday ruled the planned cuts violated state law because they constitute a service cut. Under state law, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must hold public hearings for any service cut.

MTA lawyers argued in court that cutting the token booth jobs — the workers are also called station agents or customer service agents — would be a “minor inconvenience.”

Perry disagreed. “There is no such thing as a “mere” closing or that a closing is a “minor inconvenience,” because any disruption caused by the NYCTA or MTA has the potential to severely impact the thousands of customers/riders who rely on the subway system as their only mode of transportation,” he wrote in his decision.

MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said the MTA is moving forward with public hearings because it “is not in the financial position to pay for coverage during these 30-minute breaks.”

Local 100 President Tony Utano accused the MTA of using financial woes caused by the pandemic as an excuse to cut jobs.

“The authority cynically used the pandemic as cover for eliminating our work, and for flouting the Public Authorities law,” said Utano. “We will call them on this shameful and dangerous attitude if they decide to move forward with public hearings.”