Some MTA employees say they literally can’t get a break while working their shifts. With a lack of bathrooms and lunch breaks, their patience is running short.
Train operator Kim McLaurin and her colleagues — conductor Tramell Thompson and train operator Trevor Logan — told PIX11 in an exclusive interview that their working conditions are unbearable.
“There are no accommodations for pregnant women down there imagine what happens when you have to use the bathroom,” McLaurin, who’s spent nine years working as a train operator, said.
Thompson filed a grievance on behalf of a pregnant employee he said was denied a bathroom break.
Typically, MTA employee get 35-45 minutes for breaks, but variables such as track work, delays and derailments may change or eliminate break time.
Logan’s issue is more about a lack of lunch. He has diabetes and the employees are not allowed to bring food on the train.
“Everyday my health is at risk,” Logan said.
A spokesperson for the MTA said:
We are in full compliance of the collective bargaining agreement with the TWU with respect to lunch breaks. The train operators and conductors who work through their scheduled lunch…. Receive premium pay for doing so. Mr. Thompson is raising issues that must be collectively bargained.
