This afternoon, Premier Ford announced that the province of Ontario was set to go into another lockdown along with a stay-at-home order, effective Thursday, January 14th. While we support more measures to try and keep Ontarians safe, this latest announcement once again falls short of protecting transit professionals and their families. 

The ATU is shocked that the new stay-at-home order does not include things like guaranteed paid sick days, voluntary vaccinations and the same emergency childcare benefits that were provided to other frontline workers. Once again, the provincial government is outright ignoring the advice of top public health officials including its own Chief Medical Officer, Dr. David Williams who recommends paid sick days.  

Just like other frontline workers, transit professionals go to work everyday, putting themselves at risk to provide our province and country with a critical and vital service, something that clearly the Ford government fails to recognize.

Slowing the spread of this virus, means implementing policies that keep Ontario workers safe. As this pandemic has raged on, the government has made it apparent that transit workers are not at the top of their agenda. 

We call on the government to go back to the table and come up with a plan that actually has the best interests of all Ontarians at hand.

John Di Nino

President, ATU Canada