Meeting to Address Dispatcher Assaults

Today, our President, Vice President and three Transportation Chairman met with MTA Senior VP of Buses, Frank Annicaro and VP John Pillartz to discuss the recent assaults on our Road Dispatchers by the public. It’s impossible to prevent all assaults as there are people walking around our streets and for no reason and without provocation intend on doing harm to others .

It’s the ultimate goal of both parties to completely eliminate assaults on Transit Supervisors when possible and to help meet that goal, we talked about solutions such as creating a new annual RTK training module for conflict resolution and de-escalation for all Dispatchers.

We will continue to work on ways to keep our members safe and better prepare them to deal with the increased amount of emotionally disturbed people (EDP) walking the streets of New York.

A few other things you should know and do; Inform a manager if there is a chronic problem at your post and we will work to get the post moved. If there is a problem for the day at your post with a EDP move to a safer location.

Lastly, walk away and keep your distance when you can but always protect yourself when you need to.