Chief of MTA’s biggest union promises ‘massive confrontation’ over $15 NYC congestion toll: ‘Not going to take this’
NY Post
The chief of the MTA’s biggest union — which once supported New York’s controversial congestion pricing plan — is now threatening a “massive confrontation” with transit management over the proposed $15 daily toll to enter Midtown or Lower Manhattan.
The head of the national Transport Workers Union, John Samuelsen, issued the threat in an interview on Thursday, which came just days after he escalated his battle with Gov. Kathy Hochul and her MTA chairman, Janno Lieber, by placing a full-page ad in Monday’s Post recruiting a primary challenge for the Democrat.
“There’s going to be a massive confrontation between the TWU and MTA,” Samuelsen told The Post. “We’re not going to sit back and take this.”
He added: “There’s going to be massive electoral fallout for the politicians who support this.”
TWU has made an about-face on congestion pricing as the plan looms closer, expected to launch as soon as June with the MTA saying virtually all of the cameras and other infrastructure has been installed.
The union was closely allied with now-disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he pushed for the program in 2019 to finance billions in signal improvements and new trains following the “Summer of Hell” service meltdowns.
