TTC Union Strikes Back
Posted February 9, 2010 12:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The head of Toronto’s transit union had some harsh words for TTC management Tuesday and reached out to riders by offering to hold town hall meetings to address customer service issues.
Bob Kinnear, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, held a downtown press conference after what’s been a particularly bad few weeks for the “Better Way” after one worker was caught on camera sleeping and another taking an apparent unscheduled coffee and bathroom break.
The union head said the increased public scrutiny and the chance of being photographed by customers has made many of his members wary of taking breaks. The recent “gotcha” news developments have also resulted in increased harassment against TTC employees, he added.
Kinnear delivered a stern message to riders who he says are using their mobile devices to threaten his members.
“Listen folks: Stop harassing people who are doing their jobs. Stop insulting them. Stop waving your phone cameras in their faces as you get on the bus or streetcar. Stop spitting on them. Stop calling them lazy and overpaid. Stop taking videos of drivers when they stop for a washroom break. We’re entitled to washroom breaks, like any human being should be. Harassing people about this by taking their pictures is an affront to human dignity and a violation of simple decency,” he said.
Kinnear also called on news organizations who receive these “gotcha” pictures and videos from TTC customers to send them back with a “reprimand”.
“You are not performing a public service by publicizing the washroom breaks of public service workers,” he said.
In an effort to improve the relationship between TTC workers and the public, Kinnear announced the union would initiate a series of town hall meetings where customers can speak with rank-and-file employees, not management.
“As a union, we will be prepared to listen to constructive criticism and take it to heart. We will be happy to listen to and discuss the public’s suggestions for how we, as workers, can do better,” Kinnear said. “We’ll listen to customer complaints if they are presented in a reasonable way and we are given the courtesy of a courteous reply.”
Kinnear saved his sharpest comments for TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster, who, following the latest reports of a Bathurst Street bus driver apparently taking an unscheduled seven-minute break, sent out a terse email to all TTC employees explaining that he’s “becoming increasingly tired of having to defend the reputation of the TTC.”
“This email was unfair in the extreme. Mr. Webster actually blames all employees – several times – for all the recent troubles,” the union leader said. “He takes absolutely no responsibility for management operating decisions that anger customers. For example, he takes no responsibility for the recent token fiasco … He takes no responsibility for the staff cutbacks that result in dirty subway stations and washrooms. He takes no responsibility for the St. Clair cost overruns.”
