TTC union leaders fired, including Kinnear

John Tory and the TTC are assuring riders that their commute won’t be affected after senior leadership members at the union, including ATU Local 113 president Bob Kinnear, were fired on Friday.

“The most important thing we can say to the people of Toronto is that transit service will continue,” Tory said. “We will, under the management of the TTC and all the very capable front line workers, continue to offer transit service which, I think, is what people really care about.”

The TTC released a similar statement on Friday.

“The affairs of the TTC’s largest local union … and its international parent are unrelated to TTC management or decisions of TTC management,” the statement reads. “The TTC is working to ensure this matter has no impact on service. The collective agreements between the TTC and its unions remain in place.”

“The TTC will offer no further comment on this internal union matter.”

The firing happened after Kinnear sent a letter to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), heavily criticizing the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) International and asking to change unions.

“Ultimately what happened was, a day after ATU Canada received a letter from us stating that their local had asked us to implement and start this procedure, the International union came in … and put the local under trusteeship,” Chris MacDonald with the CLC explained.

In a portion of the letter, Kinnear claims the ATU International failed to stand up for the local union when the Ontario Liberals implemented Bill 150 and were silent during recent clashes with the TTC and the mayor.

“But when Canadian ATU local union leaders asked for more resources to fight our members, the International all of a sudden finds its voice and says ‘You Canadians are divisive and unintelligible,'” the letter reads.

MacDonald said the International union coming in and putting the local under trusteeship is not within the spirit of the union constitution.

Speaking to the media Friday afternoon, Kinnear defended his actions, saying he was being loyal to his members when he sent the letter.

“I was representing my members, as I have for the last 14 years … I’ve been loyal, I will always be loyal to our 11,000 members. I will not be loyal to a Washington-based union that thinks it’s appropriate that they come in here, take over our building and basically put all of our members in a very compromising position,” he said.

In a statement, the ATU said the reason for their actions was “to restore union democracy following a unilateral attempt by suspended president Bob Kinnear to remove the Local from its 120 year-old union.”

“Kinnear’s secretive effort to split Local 113 away from its fellow ATU Canada Locals was done without the members’ knowledge or consent or that of their Executive Board,” the statement read.

Kinnear said he found out about the action taken by the ATU on Friday morning when his members called him saying they couldn’t get into the Wilson Avenue office.

“This is an outright attack. An invasion on our autonomy as Canadian workers and I suspect that there will be a number of labour organizations that come to our defense and speak our against this Washington-based union,” Kinnear said.

Kinnear first began his career with the TTC in 1988 as a janitor. He became the TTC union president in 2003.

Late Friday evening, ATU International vice-president Manny Sforza, who is now the acting trustee of Local 113, says 10 of the 17 board members have been reinstated. He says he plans to meet with more board members on Saturday and there’s a chance more will be reinstated.