Streetcar driver says he was relieved of duties for calling transit control

Union boss Bob Kinnear claims a zero tolerance cell phone ban has resulted in <a href="“>numerous unjust firings and suspensions of TTC employees.

The TTC, while reiterating that cell phone use is unacceptable while operating a vehicle, says no such sweeping ban exists.   

Eric Cuskic is stuck somewhere in the middle.

And while the confusion swirls around him and both sides battle it out in the media, the TTC streetcar driver is not getting paid and doesn’t know when, or if, he’ll be back on the job.  

Cuskic was relieved of his duties last Friday for using his cell phone, he claims, to call transit control.   He wasn’t operating a TTC vehicle at the time.  In fact, he wasn’t even in one.

It was 5am, and Cuskic was in the TTC’s Roncesvalles yard preparing to start his shift when he noticed during a safety check that his seat was broken.  A mechanic was summoned and began fixing the problem.  That’s when Cuskic decided to call transit control to warn them that he could be delayed. 

He says he would have used the TTC radio on the streetcar, but the mechanic was blocking it so he pulled out his cell phone.

“Right away one of the supervisors that was on the yard…came over and he said, ‘Why are you on your phone, get off your phone,’ ” he recalled.

He was then told to go home.

So far he’s been off work without pay for three days, and his job remains in jeopardy.  

Cuskic joined the TTC last fall after he was laid off from GM.  He’s still on probation and has a meeting with the TTC Tuesday at 9am.

He’s not sure what will transpire, but he’s ready to put up a fight.

“I feel that my situation is unjust because I was doing my job and now I’ve lost three day’s pay…I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he said.  

“I just felt it was wrong, even the supervisor in there he said it was wrong, but he said it’s over his head.”

“I was using my phone to call transit control.  I wasn’t using my phone to call my friend.”

When asked by CityNews if a sweeping ban on cell phones was in place, TTC Chair Karen Stintz responded; “If you’re on duty operating a vehicle you can’t use your cell phone.  If you’re not operating a vehicle or you’re not on duty there’s no restrictions on how you can use your cell phone.”