TTC preparing for possible worker shortage ahead of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination deadline
The TTC says it’s preparing for a possible shortage of workers and delaying schedule planning ahead of the upcoming deadline for when workers need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
In a letter sent yesterday to the union representing TTC workers, first obtained by the Toronto Star, the TTC said it was delaying the signup sheet for shifts next week due to a potential worker shortage as a result of the mandatory vaccination policy.
TTC spokesperson Stuart Green says the transit commission does not know what the final number of vaccinated employees will be by the Oct. 30 deadline, and therefore needs to push the signup period to accommodate accordingly.
“We can't schedule our service and build our service schedules, you know, and have people in the schedule who may not be working after that date. So it's just really just a contingency just in case,” he told CTV News Toronto on Friday.
The next shift signup date was supposed to be Oct. 20 but will be postponed until Nov. 3.
Every six weeks, TTC bus, streetcar and subway operators sign up for their shifts based on seniority.
In August, the TTC announced its mandatory vaccination policy requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by receiving two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this month.
Initially, employees had to submit their vaccination status by Sept. 30 but the TTC extended it to Oct. 6.
To date, more than 80 per cent of workers have shared their status, including 76 per cent of unionized employees.
Of those employees, more than 90 per cent said they are fully vaccinated and the remainder have only received one shot.
Green says there is still some paperwork to process as some employees submitted paper printouts of their vaccination receipts instead of online.
Green added that if the workers’ union, ATU Local 113,, hadn’t spent weeks “misleading employees” by encouraging them to withhold their status then this delay in scheduling might have been avoided.
“Frankly, if the union hadn't been playing games and misleading our employees for several weeks regarding sharing their vaccination status we may not even be in this position where we have to send that letter yesterday but here we are now,” he said.
For weeks after the TTC announced it’s policy on Aug, 19, the union advised its 12,000 members to withhold their vaccination status due to concerns with the policy infringing upon human rights.
The union called out TTC CEO Rick Leary’s approach for being “confrontational” and claiming that he “failed repeatedly to share vital information.”
In response, last week the TTC filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board seeking to have the union’s actions deemed an illegal strike action.
The next day the union reversed it’s stance and advised members to comply with the TTC’s vaccination policy and to disclose their vaccination status.
Green says the TTC has yet to decide what consequences workers, without a valid exemption, will face if they do not disclose their vaccination status or remain unvaccinated by the deadline.
“That's under discussion. We hope to have a clearer picture early next week, once we have all of our vaccination information in.”
Between now and Oct. 29 Green says the TTC will be educating employees about the benefits of vaccination and will host several workplace vaccination clinics in partnership with Toronto Public Health.
With files from CP24’s Josh Freeman
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.