Who We Are

Originally established as the Amalgamated Transit Union Canadian Council (ATUCC) in the 1980s, the organization officially became ATU Canada in 2015. Today, ATU Canada represents over 35,000 members as a powerful national voice, fighting to protect transit workers' rights and advocating on key issues including legislation, politics, education, health and safety, and cultural and social welfare across the country.

ATU Canada is led by a national president and seven executive board members who are elected every three years at the ATU Canada Conference. Based in Etobicoke, Ontario, just outside Toronto, ATU Canada operates as a branch of ATU International, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

ATU International —the largest labour union representing transit and allied workers in the U.S. and Canada— fights for the interests of its hard-working members and promotes mass transit. Founded in 1892, the ATU today is comprised of over 200,000 members, including metropolitan, interstate, and school bus drivers; paratransit, light rail, subway, streetcar, and ferry boat operators; mechanics and other maintenance workers; clerks, baggage handlers, municipal employees, and others. The ATU can be found in 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and nine Canadian provinces.

The ATU fights for transit workers by helping them organize local unions, negotiating collective bargaining contracts between its members and their employers, representing members in disputes with management, and making sure that employers adhere to the provisions of their collective bargaining agreements.
 

Mission

ATU Canada fights to protect the rights and interests of our Canadian members, and we advocate to all levels of government on key issues that affect workers including legislation, politics, education, health and safety, and cultural and social welfare across the country. We raise public awareness through the media when governments attempt to make legislative changes to privatize or cut public transit services that many people rely on to get to work, school, or medical appointments — because transit is a mobility right for all Canadians and not for private corporations to make a profit. We provide training, and we assist our Local Unions in organizing unorganized transit workers who want to join the ATU.

Core Values

We are guided by our core values—loyalty, teamwork, compassion, credibility, and accountability—which shape the way we conduct ourselves in all that we do.