INTERVIEW – BARRY HOBSON – Chief of Staff at Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 (DC METRO UNION)

• DC transit worker, who was reported to her bosses on social media by an author for eating on the train, will not face disciplinary action, Metro workers union official says. (NBC News) — A Washington transit worker who was reported to her bosses on social media by author Natasha Tynes for eating on the train will not face disciplinary action, an official from the Metro workers union said Monday. Barry Hobson, the chief of staff for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, told NBC News that Paul Wiedefeld, the general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said there would be no action taken against the woman. Tynes, a writer and World Bank employee in Washington, posted a photo on Twitter of the woman, who has not been publicly identified, eating on the train in uniform Friday morning. “When you’re on your morning commute & see @wmata employee in UNIFORM eating on the train,” Tynes wrote in a tweet. “I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata responds. When I asked the employee about this, her response was, ‘worry about yourself.’”
• According to the WMATA’ union, the employee was well within her rights to eat on board one of its trains. The Associated Press reported that Barry Hobson, the chief of staff for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, said an email was sent last week “from the Metro Transit police chief telling officers to stop writing tickets for fare evasion, eating, drinking, spitting and playing music without headphones until further notice.” Therefore, Hobson said in a statement, “our operator clearly was doing no wrong.”