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Transit Workers Hand Out Phony Post Cards from MTA Chairman To Protest Cuts

By Ben Fractenberg | August 19, 2010 1:04pm

By Ben Fractenberg

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

TIMES SQUARE — It looks like some transit workers would like to say "au revoir" to MTA Chairman Jay Walder.

Members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 blasted Walder on Thursday morning for going on vacation in the south of France at a time when the MTA is working to implement new fare hikes and layoffs of workers.

The transit employees handed out mock postcards from Walder to commuters and tourists at the Times Square subway station at West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue.

The postcard features a gag photograph of Walder on a beach, smiling.

“Heard the weather’s real hot and humid back in New York," the postcard reads, "and that you’re packed in like sardines on the trains and buses because of all the service cuts.” 

Some commuters were angered by the news.

“I’m not on vacation, he should be working,” said Eyitami Oyarijivbie, 20, who was rushing to her job at the Times Square McDonald's.

“I’m going to work right now and the train just made me late,” she said.

Bus driver Stephon Leonard, 47, said Walder should be in New York lobbying for service improvements and to save jobs.

“He is vacationing in the south of France while people in New York have been laid off by Mr. Walder,” said Leonard, who has been a bus operator for 17 years.

Walder reportedly bought the French country home while he worked in London, and also owns a $1.6 million condo on the Upper West Side.

“I never thought I’d see the MTA lay off people,” said Brian Brooks, 50, who has been cleaning the subways for 29 years. “We just can’t lay down and take it.”