Why did some Toronto bus drivers refuse to work amid COVID-19? Here’s everything you need to know
The TTC announced Thursday morning it would start blocking off seats on its vehicles to allow passengers to practice social distancing.
It's the latest measure in the agency's evolving response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the TTC has defended but which has at times been criticized by transit employees. Their frustration was on display Wednesday when dozens of bus drivers temporarily refused work.
The agency announced in a Twitter post it will initially use tape to bar riders from sitting on certain seats before a more permanent solution is found. TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said the numbers and locations of seats that are blocked off will vary, but the goal on buses will be to allow for 10 to 12 people to ride seated, plus two or three standing.
"These will be unofficial passenger limits as we don't want operators having to enforce hard limits," Green said, adding that even on busy routes most buses are now carrying fewer than 15 riders.
The TTC has rolled out policies over the past three months that it says are designed to keep customers and employees safe from COVID-19, including suspending the collection of cash, tickets, and tokens at the fare box, directing passengers to only use the rear door of buses, and allowing workers to wear their own face masks on the job.
Green said the TTC acted quickly in response to the threat, and began disinfecting its vehicles daily in January, "well ahead" of other transit agencies. He said the TTC continues to "take actions that protect employee health and safety" while also "continuing to deliver critically important service."
But some workers aren't satisfied the TTC is doing enough. At least 38 bus drivers at the Queensway and Wilson divisions staged a temporary work stoppage Wednesday because they said they didn't feel safe.
"It just seems like (the TTC is) slow to react to everything, and they really have to get pushed" to take protective steps like lifting its ban on workers wearing masks, said Carlos Santos, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents about 12,000 TTC workers.
As of Wednesday evening, 17 TTC employees had tested positive for the virus. There have been no reported fatalities.
Why are some employees unhappy about TTC's response to the pandemic? Here's everything you need to know:
Why did TTC drivers refuse to work?
According to a Ministry of Labour field report about the stoppage at Queensway, where 33 bus drivers refused to get behind the wheel, employees had two main complaints: Drivers said they are unable to practise safe social distancing when passengers board through the vehicles' front doors, and they said TTC management hasn't given workers appropriate protective equipment, such as N95 face masks.
Although the TTC has told passengers to only use rear doors on buses, that doesn't include riders with accessibility issues, who are still entitled to use the ramps at the front. Once on board, TTC drivers are supposed to help passengers in wheelchairs secure themselves in the vehicle.
The ministry investigator reported bus operators "allege they have not been provided with any instruction on how to safely secure passengers," a task which requires them "to be in close distance" with the rider.
Did the ministry rule the stoppage was justified?
The investigator found that the circumstances at Queensway "do no meet the conditions" for a work stoppage as defined by provincial legislation. According to the report, the TTC has determined the risk to drivers while helping passengers in wheelchairs is "minimal."
The investigator also noted the agency has put measures in place to protect workers, including providing drivers with disinfectant wipes, sanitizer and gloves. Employee representatives said drivers are only given one pair of gloves and there is no additional supply on buses.
Why did drivers wait until now?
TTC workers had been expressing concern about COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak, and it's unclear why Wednesday proved a tipping point. But Santos said there were likely a number of factors, including employees being notified the day before that a mechanic at Queensway had tested positive for the disease.
Santos said the work stoppage wasn't co-ordinated by the union, and was the result of genuine safety concerns from transit employees under tremendous stress as they continue to work through the pandemic.
"When people are trying to do the best they can but they're scared, eventually they just kind of snap," he said.
Have transit workers refused work in other cities?
There hasn't been widespread job action at Canadian transit agencies as a result of COVID-19. But Detroit's transit agency was forced to cancel all bus service for a day last month when workers seeking greater protection didn't show up for their shifts.
What does a work stoppage mean for riders?
The TTC has about 5,000 bus, streetcar, and subway operators, and says Wednesday's work stoppages, which involved fewer than 40 drivers, caused "minimal" service disruptions. Of course, if work stoppages became more common, they would begin to undermine the TTC's ability to continue normal operations.
What happens next?
Santos said that if TTC workers were provided with masks, they would "feel a lot more comfortable and a lot more safer" and job action would be less likely.
The TTC has a stockpile of some masks, including 31,000 N95s, but Green said they're reserved for employees who had previously been deemed high risk and aren't being distributed to all workers.
Instead, the agency is looking at producing its own fabric masks. Green said the transit agency's upholsterers, who are normally occupied with mending worn-out vehicle seats, are working on prototypes. There's no date for when TTC-made masks will start to be distributed.
Local 113 has also procured about 100,000 disposable masks, and has started to give them out.
Santos said that while a small number of members have called on the union to stop work during the pandemic, he has no plans to do so.
"Our members are going to work every single day and they're taking people to where they have to be," he said. "I'm not going to shut it down and abandon the citizens of Toronto."
Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpur