Underground Kabuki Theater

If your subway commute seemed s l o w e r this morning, it was likely because transit employees are purposely s l o w i n g down trains, as per Transport Workers Union instructions:

With a potentially crushing transit strike looming on Friday, the Transport Workers Union has handed out a manual instructing train operators on how to disrupt subway service with a “rule book” slowdown.

TWU organizers handed out the blatant “do’s” and “don’ts” newsletter — aimed at creating havoc in the transit system — to members at a Saturday meeting in which the union rank-and-file voted unanimously to authorize a strike if a new contract is not reached with the MTA by Friday.

“A lot of guys have been hitting the emergency brake and saying they ‘slipped.’ They call it in, but then you have to walk the whole train before you can keep going,” one train operator told The Post.

In other words, they may be carrying out an arguably illegal job action that delays service for thousands of straphangers.

The TWU said it’s just informing train operators of their legal rights — wink, wink — on how to operate trains safely “as per car-school instructions.” The note was put out in the TWU’s “Rapid Transit Operation” newsletter, dated Dec. 10.

“Train Operators: Watch Your Do’s and Don’ts,” the newsletter urges.

Train operators are told to be slowpoke sticklers for the rules by taking their time when leaving the terminal and when restarting the train after hitting the emergency brake. They’re also told to obey all signals.

A TWU source defended the flier. “The MTA wrote the rules. We’re just following them,” one union insider said.

A strategy is obviously designed to build tremendous amounts of good will among the riding public . . .

Meanwhile, the Post piles on the TWU, calling attention to its leaders’ six-figure salaries:

The leaders of the Transport Workers Union are living a lot larger than the train operators and bus drivers they represent — pulling in six-figure salaries and having a fleet of union-paid SUVs at their disposal should workers go on strike Friday.

There are a total of 31 officers and employees at TWU International whose compensation exceeds $100,000, a Post analysis of union payroll records show.

Two officers at the TWU Local 100 affiliate also make more than $100,000. Eight other union employees earned more than $90,000.

But Local 100 leaders make substantially less than the officers at TWU International and other union bosses.

TWU International President Michael O’Brien was paid $225,281 — $216,637 in salary plus another $8,644 for expenses. Treasurer John Kerrigan was paid $220,714.

That’s four times more than the $53,959 in average pay for the typical train conductor, and it nearly quadruples the $62,500 made by train operators and bus drivers.

TWU Local 100 chief Roger Toussaint was paid $126,725 last year. Of that total, $101,990 was for salary and $24,735 was for “disbursements for official business.”

Ah, the irony:

Local 100’s top officers get around in vehicles leased by the union. The international union also has cars for its staffers, payroll records show.