A subway train pulling into 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station on July 1, 2026. Helayne Seidman for the NY Post See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Union big’s trains of thought John Samuelsen. Subway track worker by trade and international president of the Transport Workers Union of America — the biggest airline union in the US with 165,000 transport workers.
Samuelsen: “I oversee 100 coast-to-coast unions, including the Caribbean, plus our big transit cities — like 30,000 workers at American Airlines, 34,000 at Southwest Air. Plus NYC, Philadelphia and San Francisco cable cars.
“My first time on a subway was Avenue U and East 16th Street. I was about 8. Nazareth High School in East Flatbush. A working-class Irish neighborhood in southern Brooklyn. I still live there. Right where my father grew up. Same address. Then, in ’93, I found that I was a good organizer.”
Why is it so expensive? I mean, when we had George Washington as president was when I first took the subway, and it was a nickel.
“Well, time marches on, and it’s relatively not at all expensive compared to the rest of the transit systems across the country. And look at what the cost of these systems are in some of the cities in Europe. Look even at the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North or New Jersey Transit.
“Just think, you can get on the system in Coney Island and take it up to Yankee Stadium for a flat fee, $3. It’s not that much money. What can you do for three bucks? You can’t get a slice of pizza for three bucks in the city anymore.”
What do people misunderstand about the subway? Everybody complains about it.
“The problem’s the internet, Twitter, Instagram, cellphones, everything instantly available. Systems are under scrutiny that they weren’t years ago. Five transit workers a week get assaulted on average in NYC. If five schoolteachers were assaulted each week, there’d be massive societal steps to end that plague.”
So what’s going to happen with the new Second Avenue subway?
“Congestion pricing made funding available to continue to build it northbound. Money that the MTA, subway and bus riders never saw before. Huge casino money, congestion pricing money, and there should be a massive citywide discussion about that.”
“We are in a constant battle against artificial intelligence. There are postmodern urbanists right here that conspire every day to eliminate workers in the transit system and replace them with robotic elements.”
Another question on another topic. Air traffic control.
“The system definitely needs massive investment. They must hire more air traffic controllers. And increase their pay to a good salary in order to retain them.
“Lots of times disputes or desires of working people are about work-life balance. It’s about having appropriate time off to rest. It’s about being able to have a day off to celebrate a child’s birthday or a confirmation or a graduation. That is all part of having a desire not to let the bosses work us to death or work us into a divorce.
“And so it’s not always about wages, it’s about quality of life and about that all-important work-life balance.”
Listen, the high price of gas is forcing people to change their driving habits. Everybody’s trying to save money. Even street gangs. They’re now restricting themselves to jog-by shootings.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
