A high-ranking MTA superintendent instituted a quota on the number of disciplinary violations that his underlings must dole out to subway workers each month — infuriating the agency’s largest union in the midst of tense contract negotiations, The Post has learned.
The quota order is likely to rekindle the still-simmering tensions from the 2005 holiday-season transit strike — staged in large part because the union accused the MTA of a disciplinary crackdown.
Now, the directive e-mailed to subway supervisors Wednesday by New York City Transit Superintendent Anthony Bartolotta will likely fuel old tensions between the agency and Transport Workers Union Local 100.
In the e-mail, obtained by The Post, Bartolotta informed his staffers — who oversee conductors and train operators on the F, G, Q, N and B lines — of the new policy demanding supervisors submit five violations against workers per month.
“Until further notice all TSS [train-service supervisors] personnel in District 3 will be required to submit 5 violations per month,” he wrote.
Union chiefs are now accusing the MTA of playing dirty during contract negotiations.
“It’s like psychological warfare,” said Kevin Harrington, a TWU vice president.“To me, it’s just bad management.”
The MTA quickly disavowed the e-mails, saying they were the work of a single employee, and vehemently denied ever endorsing quotas.
“There are absolutely no quotas,” said spokesman Kevin Ortiz. “This directive was not sanctioned by senior management, and has already been rescinded.”
Still, the e-mail couldn’t have come at a worse time. The TWU launched its illegal strike in 2005, citing, among other things, what the union considered an unncessary crackdown.
The latest e-mail called for TSS personnel — who are not TWU members — to write up conductors and operators who are TWU members for “minor,” “moderate” or “severe” infractions.
Minor infractions can lead to a worker getting fired, since each citation is added to previous ones.
If someone’s first citation is considered severe, that person could get fired if he or she commits a minor offense within 12 months.
Minor violations include such things as an undone tie or not wearing a work vest.
A moderate infraction includes a conductor not pointing at the ceiling when pulling into a station, which indicates that he or she has lined up the train at the platform.
A severe infraction can be for opening train doors while not in a station.
In 2002, transit-agency supervisors issued more than 16,000 citations for a workforce of 36,000.
That number eventually dropped after the strike, but the bitter feelings remain.
During the current contract talks, TWU President John Samuelsen has lashed out at the MTA for disciplinary crackdowns.
He calls the MTA’s tactics an “1880s-railroad style of discipline.”
“Elimination of that system is a primary objective [of negotiations],” Samuelsen said.