Public Transit Workers in Toronto and Mississauga Demand Protective GearAmalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, which represents around 12,000 public transit workers in Toronto and York Region is calling on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to increase health precaution measures for workers in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, including allowing workers to protect themselves by wearing masks on the job. The union is calling upon the TTC to worry less about public perception and focus on public protection. If TTC workers feel that it is in their health interests to wear a mask on the job, ATU Local 113 will fully support them, says the local. As things currently stand, TTC and Metrolinx employees are not allowed to wear masks on the job. (Metrolinx is the provincial agency charged with regional transportation planning in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.) Metrolinx executives are claiming that masks create the impression amongst customers that the risk is higher than it actually is and may deter people from adopting other essential measures such as hand hygiene practices.
Workers organized in ATU Local 1572 in Mississauga are also demanding that their transit drivers be allowed to wear masks and gloves when they are at work. Workers' Forum recently talked with Local President Jack Jackson, who made the following comments: "Our workers feel that they are exposed, just as they are on the front lines. A lot of our membership has sick and elderly people in their lives and they want to ensure that they do not bring anything home. We have actually had the Ministry of Labour in three times to try and address some of our concerns, and so far this has not worked to our benefit. We continue to push for masks and gloves in the workplace." Jackson spoke about obtaining a quarantine process for workers as another major concern of theirs and of the union. "The employer has no plan or protocol in place to remove from the workplace those who may have been exposed, or anything of that kind. We're asking for protocols and measures to be developed and as of yet, there are none. What the employer is doing is to just carry on saying that they're going to rely on the Region of Peel or Health Canada. Essentially, if the government does not mandate our employer to do something, they're just going to keep the status quo. This is a problem," he said. "For example we had a gentleman who was diagnosed with COVID-19. He rode our buses. We thought that the most logical thing to do was to immediately remove those people from service, those whose buses he was on, as well as anyone who did maintenance on the bus or who cleaned it. We thought that they should be removed, because you're talking here about a small number, in case any of them had been exposed, so that we're not putting the public or co-workers at further risk. Because it's a 14-day incubation period, someone may look fine for seven or even 10 days and then suddenly get the symptoms and by then it's too late, people have been exposed." "There are a lot of concerns obviously at any transit authority, or at any workplace, but those are probably our most pressing concerns," he added. "We recognize that these are tough times, but I do believe that this is a time where you err on the side of caution to protect everyone."
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"Transit workers
have the right to protect their
health
in the same way countless TTC riders do by wearing masks on subways,
streetcars and buses," said the union in a statement dated March 6. The
union is asking why, if there is no health hazard, the TTC is giving
staff responsible for disinfecting vehicles protective gear and why the
TTC
asked its Wheel-Trans employees to wear masks on the job. It points out
that if COVID-19 is hazardous for these workers, it is hazardous for
all.