Horse carriage union sues NYC moments after politicians vote to end Central Park tradition
They’re not going down without a fight.The union representing the roughly 200 carriage horse drivers and owners filed a lawsuit against the city moments after the City Council voted to kill the industry and their livelihoods.The Transport Workers Union asked for a temporary restraining order on Romanch’s Law — which passed with a veto-proof majority on Thursday.The action makes good on a promise the TWU had made the day before in a letter to the council, warning that legal action would come “the minute the ink dries” on the legislation.“This bill is a train wreck of constitutional and due process violations,” TWU International President John Samuelsen fumed in a statement Wednesday.“It offers nothing concrete for blue-collar drivers and carriage owners who will be financially crushed, stripped of their jobs, their licenses, expensive city-issued medallions, small businesses, and way of life.It is not progressive.
It is anti-worker.It’s theft.”In a letter to the city’s Law Department boss, the union’s attorneys claimed the bill includes a “mess of serious Federal and State Constitutional violations.”The bill will take property from employees “without just compensation” and make any future investments into their careers effectively worthless, the attorneys claim.
The union wasn’t against legislation aimed at regulating the carriage horse industry, they wrote — and is still willing to work with politicians to reach a law that benefits workers, protects the animals and is legally sound.The letter was also sent to City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.But the city says the TWU would be wasting its time.“We are reviewing the letter.We are confident the legislation is grounded in the law and will be prepared to defend it,” Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the Law Department, said in a statement.Menin’s office referred The Post to a statement she released last week, justifying the need for the ban by citi...