The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking to lay off hundreds of New York City subway employees, including station agents and members of the authority’s administrative and managerial staff, revising an earlier plan under which they would have been allowed to retire, according to two people with knowledge of the plans.þþThe people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the revised plan had not been formally unveiled, said the layoffs would be announced Tuesday.þþAbout $50 million is expected to be saved with the cuts, which would affect about 450 station agents and more than 600 administrative workers. þThe cuts are part of a broad belt-tightening at the authority led by its new chairman, Jay H. Walder, who has spoken forcefully about the need to reel in costs as the agency struggles with a perilous financial situation.þþThe station agents belong to Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, and the layoffs would be the first for members of that union in decades. The local’s president, John Samuelsen, who has been in office since Jan. 1, has said he will vigorously oppose any attempts to lay off his members. [NYT] (Also see The Post and The Daily News.)þ
Source: NY Times
