Bus depot workers battled bosses over lowering flag for FDNY battalion chief

NY 1 image above, watch story here

(Thanks to Steven Iurato for alerting STATter911.com to this story.)

Stephanie Pagones & Danielle Furfaro, New York Post:

Workers at a Manhattan bus depot found themselves in a bureaucratic battle when they lowered their flag to honor the firefighter who died in a Bronx home explosion — and were told by superiors to raise it back up or they could get suspended.

Tim Reilly, a facilities maintenance employee at Kingsbridge Bus Depot, said he lowered the depot’s flag to half-staff on Tuesday after Mayor de Blasio ordered all flags to be lowered in memory of FDNY Battalion Chief Michael Fahy.

Depot management told Reilly to raise the flag on Tuesday night, but he and other workers refused.

Eddie Small & Ben Fractenberg, DNA Info:

Workers at the Kingsbridge Bus Depot in Manhattan lowered their flag Wednesday morning, according to the Transport Workers Union, Local 100, but managers ordered them to raise it back up under threat of suspension because they were told only the governor can order flags lowered at MTA facilities, Director of Maintenance and Operating Authority Thomas Lenane said.

“[MTA management is] saying that they don’t take direction from the mayor, so whether it’s political between them and the mayor, I don’t know,” he continued. “I’m dumbfounded as to the position they’ve taken on this one.”

MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz blamed the controversy on a “miscommunication at the bus depot level” and said flags at all agency locations would be flown at half-staff out of respect for Fahy.