Employee shortage due to Metrolinx COVID-19 vaccine policy causing service disruptions

Concerns are mounting over the possibility of further service disruptions from Metrolinx due to the transit agency’s mandatory vaccination policy.

About two to three percent, 150 employees, of Metrolinx’s 4,600 staff members are currently on unpaid leave due to the policy that required employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We hope they come back and change their mind; a few have. For now, we have fewer staff to be able to operate all of our train and buses,” said spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikens.

As a result of the staff absences, six percent of the 1,400 daily bus trips operated by Metrolinx were cancelled on Monday. There was a total of 90 trips cancelled, along with six intermittent train trips that were also cancelled.

Aikins says every day they have to strategic about what changes they are making to the schedule

“We made sure we spread out the pain, we didn’t touch any first or last trips. We only looked at routes with perhaps low riderships or have other options available – so there’s a train right there or a bus coming be fore or after that.”

The drop in staffing comes as ridership is on the rise, sitting at 50 percent for both Metrolinx and the TTC as people begin to head back to work.

The TTC also has a similar vaccine mandate policy that will go into effect on November 21. The TTC has already warned riders to expect adjusted services over the next two months due to those refusing to get vaccinated.

One expert says all employers need to consider the impacts of these vaccine policies.

“You have to think of the health impacts globally on these issues. What is the health impact on the workers you are asking to work harder now, longer hours to fill in for the workers who can’t come in?” asked Rafael Gomez. “These are all downstream effects that aren’t though through when we have simple policies to fix complex situations

Gomez, who is a professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, said it’s vital to have layering approaches to health and safety at work, adding that it isn’t as simple as having just one solution.

“This might not be the long-lasting solution that I think a lot of companies and many organizations are desiring. I think more nuanced and more tentative discussions around people’s own expectations [and] people’s own demands for bodily autonomy, I think we need to listen to those concerns as much as we want to get back to normal as quick as possible.”

Metrolinx states of the 97 per cent of employees who reported their vaccination status, a little over 95 per cent are fully vaccinated while another 2.6 per cent have received at least one dose. The company, in the meantime, are continuing with their recruitment efforts.

“In the meantime, we hope those people come back, if they don’t, we’ll have to replace them for good.”

As for the TTC, as of Oct. 27, 88 per cent of the agency’s 15,090 active employees have shared their COVID-19 vaccination status and the “vast majority” are already fully vaccinated.

With files from Meredith Bond

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