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The Transport Workers Union deserves real props for going hard in the paint for a tiny portion of its membership: the under-attack-from-all-sides Central Park horse-carriage drivers.
We rarely cheer for any union, since they’re too often protecting bad workers, threatening strikes for pie-in-the-sky raises or lobbying for harmful policies or added perks.
But in the case of the carriage drivers, who are facing extinction thanks to opposition from animal-rights activists, Central Park leadership and progressive politicians, the TWU is doing exactly what a union should be doing: Pushing hard to preserve solid jobs for workers who would otherwise have little power.
Horse-carriage drivers have long had targets on their backs: Elitist special-interest groups like NYCLASS have been gunning for the classic tourist attraction for years, smearing carriage drivers (with scant evidence) as horse-abusing monsters.
But the effort to bully them out of existence has gained a lot of steam this past year; the City Council is eyeing a citywide ban, which Central Park Conservancy President Betsy Smith penned a letter supporting, ending park leadership’s neutrality on the issue.
TWU Local 100 has fought back hard, defending drivers to the media, debunking tales of horse mistreatment and launching a $1 million public-awareness campaign (including some ads in The Post) against Mayor Eric Adams for his executive order cracking down on the industry.
And it polled Central Park visitors, finding that 57% favor keeping the carriages.
This is a battle TWU could have shirked: The roughly 300 horse-carriage drivers and owners are a miniscule slice of the 44,000 workers the union reps.
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Tossing the drivers, many of them are immigrants or kids of immigrants, to the wolves to save a little political capital would have been an easy (though sleazy) choice.
And the union has taken serious heat for sticking by drivers — in response to its shaming of Adams, NYCLASS spokesperson Edita Birnkrant accused TWU of “blowing $1 million in workers’ hard-earned dues to attack the mayor for standing up against animal abuse.”
Uh, TWU is spending that money on exactly what it’s meant for: Defending the livelihoods of hundreds of dues-paying workers who are being unfairly vilified.
We’ve had plenty of disagreements with the TWU, and surely will again, but credit where credit is due: When push came to shove, it stepped up for the little guy against the elites.
If only all union activity was this cheer-worthy.