BRAMPTON - John Di Nino, the National President of ATU Canada, which represents over 35,000 workers across Canada, 1200 of which are in the City of Brampton, is calling on public officials at all levels of government to take action and provide transit workers with the protections they need to be able to do their jobs safely.
Earlier this morning, it was announced by Brampton Transit and Peel Public Health that a COVID-19 investigation caused service disruptions on the 511, 11 and the 51 which serve an important corridor that services thousands of essential workers each day. It has now been confirmed that this route will be suspended effective Wednesday, March 10th for a period of seven days.
“This is exactly why we have been advocating for more protections for transit workers as well as calling for our members to be prioritized when it comes to voluntary vaccinations.” Said Di Nino. “As long as the health and safety of our transit workers is not the top priority, we will continue to see massive service disruptions, putting thousands of essential workers and their families at risk.”
Since early December, ATU Canada has been calling on the federal and provincial governments across the country to include transit workers in the next phase of the vaccine rollout process as well as more guidance on aerosol transmission as a public health risk. Most of these calls however have been met with silence.
“Giving transit workers safe working conditions during a global pandemic includes priority vaccines access,” said Di Nino. “This measure is a necessary and an essential step that cannot be overlooked, and we are prepared to assist all levels of government to ensure the delivery of the vaccine to all transit professionals.”
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