#Union boss rips MTA’s coronavirus response, costly consultants

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MTA officials work on disinfecting trains on May 6.
AP

Consultants being paid big bucks by the MTA to study coronavirus safety measures “whitewashed” the agency’s response to the pandemic, a union leader charged Wednesday.

“The MTA is using high-paid consultants to rewrite history and whitewash its own failings, but transit workers who saw more than 130 of their co-workers die know the sordid and painful truth. The MTA failed its employees,” Tony Utano, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said in a statement.

Engineering firm WSP — which the MTA is paying up to $100,000 for coronavirus-related consulting — told Wednesday’s agency board meeting that the MTA took “proactive steps” to combat the spread of the virus, even as thousands of workers fell ill in the initial weeks of the pandemic.

“We’ve been presented with a lot of evidence from MTA that they took early, proactive and decisive action to help reduce the risk of COVID-19 to their employees and riders,” WSP’s John Gasparaine told board members.

In particular, Gasparine lauded the MTA’s March 27 “pretty bold” decision to distribute mask to its workforce, 12 days before the CDC began recommending face coverings.

“They felt the right thing to do what to begin distributing masks to their employees in advance of that change in public health guidance and, in this case, they were right,” he said.

But the MTA’s decision came after a protracted fight with its workforce, many of whom complained about a lack of protective gear and cleaning supplies at the beginning  of the outbreak.

Just three weeks before the MTA began to distribute masks, an official agency memo obtained by The Post said they were prohibited because “masks are not medically necessary as a protection against COVID-19, and not part of the authorized uniform.”

Gasparine’s presentation made no mention of that history.

Utano said the MTA’s course correction was too little, too late, and called for “a comprehensive study on why the transit workforce was hit so hard.”

“Taking credit for being out in front of the CDC is not an actual accomplishment. More than 130 dead transit workers isn’t cause for celebration,” he said.

Pressed for a response after Wednesday’s board meeting, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said the report was “accurate.”

“We changed our approach before the CDC did — and long before the World Health Organization did,” Foye said. “The MTA was early aggressive and innovative in taking action to minimize public health risks to our customers or employees.”

As of Wednesday, 132 MTA employees had died of COVID-19 — the vast majority of them TWU members.