Sikh transit workers 'logo row' (From Asian Image)

Sikh transit workers 'logo row'

5:03pm Wednesday 24th June 2009

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Sikh transit workers in New York say they've won the support of a majority of the City Council for an end to a policy requiring workers to brand their turbans with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) logo.

Now, 27 of the New York City's Council’s 51 members have sent a letter to the president of MTA New York City Transit, stating that the policy amounts to religious discrimination.

It marks the first time in the four year dispute between Sikh transit workers and the MTA that a majority of the New York City Council has spoken out against the MTA’s turban-branding policy.

As it stands, the MTA requires both Sikh and Muslim workers to brand their respective religious headdress with its logo.

Executive director of the Sikh Coalition Amardeep Singh said about a dozen Sikhs work for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and don't want to have to wear an agency logo on the turbans that their religion requires. Two of them - among six suing the MTA .

The MTA says the policy is necessary for identifying MTA employees.

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