International President John Samuelsen and Local 100 Pres. John Chiarello ruthlessly excoriated New York transit officials Wednesday, for failing to give thousands of workers who were injured on the job their workers’ compensation checks on time.
“My most vu
lnerable members are not being paid, on account of gross mismanagement by the MTA,” Chiarello told the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Board at its monthly meeting. “The last thing anyone should worry about when they’re trying to heal is whether they can pay the light bill, the rent, or put food on the table. This is outrageous and unacceptable.”
At a packed press conference with Chiarello after the board meeting, Samuelsen said he believes MTA Chairman Janno Lieber is behind a nefarious scheme to disrupt injured workers’ lives, hoping to pressure them to return to their jobs before being fully healed.
“It’s appalling, It’s evil. It’s Janno Lieber,” Samuelsen said.
Payments to more than 3,500 bus and subway workers who were hurt on the job have come weeks late – or not at all. Some were permanently disabled and retired.
Emily Louise Allen, a former Station Agent, has chronic ba
ck pain because a message board fell and struck her while working in a subway booth. Her last check came 30 days ago, and she’s been unable to pay some bills.
“The telephone company especially wants their money, and my landlord wants his money,” she said. In addition to her physical pain, Allen said she is now also “emotionally hurting.”
Problems emerged earlier this year when the MTA handed over workers’ comp management to a private company, Sedgwick. The MTA’s goal is to save money. Using an outside firm “would result in an annual reduction of $20 million or more in workers’ compensation program benefits and costs,” an MTA briefing to board members stated, according to the New York Daily News.
The MTA’s NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said the agency and Sedgewick are working to get the program on track after an admittedly difficult transition.