Transit Union Criticizes Double Digit Wage Increase

As reported by Katie Nicholls / 99.9 The Bay

A slap in the face to transit workers.

That quoted emerged from a release titled “Something Stinks At City Hall” put out by the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 966.

They are calling out City Hall and Council for moving a motion forward on June 6th regarding a second wage increase of the year for management and non-unionized staff members.

The increases for these employees would equal upwards of 12 per cent for managerial roles who are not part of the city’s union.

The concern that the ATU is showing is that during the 18 months of negotiations, the new union agreement for transit staff capped a wage increase at 1.5 per cent.

They are claiming it’s unfair and devaluing their good faith negotiations.

During a council meeting, it was outlined that the city had $10.9 million dollars in surplus funding.

Local ATU President Fred Caputo, in a statement Thursday, indicated that this is contradictory to what was said during negotiations and that during talks the city was seeing revenue losses and a funding deficit due to the (COVID-19) pandemic.

“City Administration had a memory lapse during our negotiations – or they conveniently failed to disclose that they were already getting COVID‐19 relief funds from the Federal and Provincial governments that would total almost $9.4 million to help the relieve the impact of the pandemic,” Caputo added.

Caputo noted that during negotiations, the Union was comparing wages to Southern Ontario transit workers but the City negotiator said those aren’t comparable.

Caputo claimed that in an about face move, the City then cited locations in Southern Ontario as comparisons for competitive wages.

National ATU President John Di Nino said that it is deceiving to manipulate the narrative by awarding pay adjustments to senior staff.

The union is asking the city to be forthcoming and transparent with taxpayers and workers who have been misled.

City Manager Norm Gale released a statement late Thursday morning, saying they greatly appreciate the diligence and hard work of the union and all City employees during COVID-19.

“We respect their views and we will continue to bargain in good faith,” Gale added. “It is recognized that misinformation in the community has caused some concern and speculation. Details of the pay band adjustment were discussed in closed session, and remain confidential until City Council’s vote on Committee of the Whole’s decision is finalized – this is normal practice for human resources matters.”

Gale noted that the pay band adjustment is a realignment of the Non-Union Managerial Salary Schedule.

He added it is not an immediate increase to salaries but rather allows for annual movement of 1 to 4 per cent through the salary bands via the pay for performance management process.

The June 6th motion is yet to be ratified by City Council.

AReport by Katie Nicholls / 99.9 The Bay