TTC management must develop and implement worker protection plan
TORONTO, ONTARIO – February 16, 2022 – Marvin Alfred, President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, released the following statement in response to a second stabbing of a TTC worker within a week.
“For a second time within a week, a TTC worker is being treated in hospital after being stabbed at work. The assault occurred this afternoon on Keele St. and Gulliver Rd. After visiting the worker in hospital with ATU Local 113 Executive Vice President Angie Clark, we can confirm that he is in stable condition.
ATU Local 113, which represent nearly 12,000 TTC workers, once again calls on TTC management and the City of Toronto to develop and implement a transit worker protection plan that will stop violent assaults against workers. This should include increased enforcement and penalties for these unacceptable actions. This violence cannot continue and we need more protection immediately to ensure our safety.
Before today’s events, I spoke with TTC CEO Rick Leary and plan to meet again in the coming days to address this ongoing violence and other critical safety matters. ATU Local 113 also met with Mayor John Tory earlier this week to discuss this and other problems facing Toronto’s public transit workers.
As assaults against workers have become more common throughout the pandemic, the mental and psychological toll it has had on transit workers is immense. Nobody in our city should have to worry about being assaulted or hurt on the job, especially transit workers who have kept our city moving throughout the pandemic and have already managed COVID-related stress for two years.
Daily assaults of TTC workers, including two stabbings over the past week, cannot be condoned or tolerated. TTC management and the City of Toronto must make changes to better protect the safety of our members.”