Union: Train Interiors Will Get Dirty Under CTA Plan
(CBS) -- CTA's employee union says it wants the transit agency to come clean about its new maintenance schedule.
But the agency says the union is blowing things out of proportion.
Starting Jan. 1, spot-cleaning of CTA rail cars in the mornings and afternoons will likely be eliminated. Right now, the CTA is not budgeting to replace ex-offenders who do the work.
Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 308, says the decision eliminates 65 apprentices who make $9.50 an hour.
"They could spend some of that money and turn over full-time people or hire new people. They're choosing not to do it, and therefore these trains are going to be dirty, and that's a big concern of ours," he said.
The CTA had this response: "Contrary to Kelly's claims, CTA rail cars will maintain a high level of cleanliness each and every day. In fact, not only is CTA maintaining all of its current rail car servicer positions, CTA is maintaining the same schedule for rail car cleaning."
