Retiress

TWU Local 100 retiree Patricia Jewett put more than 30 years into the MTA New York City Transit. Now at 67, her knees are shot and bronchial asthma makes it hard to breathe. But Jewett says she remains proud of being the first woman to ever work in the East New York Bus Depot’s Maintenance Division — and she doesn’t understand why she and her fellow retirees are now being stripped of their traditional Medicare coverage and pushed into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan. “I spent years being the only woman in an all male atmosphere,” Jewett told Work-Bites this past Friday outside the Downtown Marriott in Brooklyn. “It wasn't easy, but I stuck it out."