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TORONTO – John Di Nino, National President of ATU Canada and John Costa, ATU International President are encouraged by the recent announcement this morning of the New Democratic Party (NDP) platform and its several commitments to public transit. In the 115-page document, the NDP are pledging to: develop a public inter-city bus system, commit funding for zero emission vehicles with the goal of electrifying transit, improving rural transit conditions, making transit more affordable and putting in place a permanent, direct, allocation-based funding mechanism for modern public transit.

A grave report released yesterday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, stressed the limited time we have to mitigate the irrevocable effects of climate change including more investment in public transit says the Amalgamated Transit Union, the largest union representing transit workers in North America.

EDMONTON — As Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna took turns re-announcing funding that already existed and touting ‘good union jobs’ on an Edmonton Transit platform, transit workers took over the stage with a banner of the faces of over 1500 transit workers in the ATU with the emblazoned words: “STOP CONTRACTING OUT OUR WORK” on a 4x12 foot banner.
OTTAWA - Approximately 35 workers who work on the Confederation Line are the newest members of Amalgamated Transit Union local 279 representing workers at OC Transpo, Paratranspo, the Royal Canadian Mint and Alstom. These workers are employees of Alstom Transport Canada and perform infrastructure maintenance and warehouse work on the Confederation line. This work includes guideway maintenance, power technicians, signalling and communications and other duties. They join their colleagues in vehicle maintenance who perform work on the LRT vehicles and are already unionized.
In recent weeks, the mass unmarked graves of Indigenous children who died at the hands of the violent residential school system that operated for over 100 years, have been found in Kamloops, Brandon, the Marieval Residential School in Saskatchewan and most recently in St Eugen's Mission School in BC's Interior. The search for these graves has been something Indigenous communities have been demanding for a very a long time but is something that most Canadians may be coming to terms with for the first time.
Two London transit operators were assaulted late this morning after two totally unprovoked attacks. The first attack occurred when a driver was transitioning shifts from one bus to another. The assailant jumped up behind the operator and attacked him. The driver is currently in hospital.

The President of Amalgamated Transit Union Canada wants to congratulate UFCW local 832 member Bea Bruske on her election to President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

“On behalf of 34,000 Canadian transit workers, we want to congratulate Bea Bruske. Bea was a guest at our 2020 ATU Canada Convention and we are thrilled to have supported her victory,” said President Di Nino.

ATU Canada has signed on to a letter along with almost 50 other Canadian labour unions and union locals including the Ontario Federation of Labour, calling on the federal government to immediately suspend bilateral trade of all arms and related materials with the State of Israel.

ATU Canada / ATU International Organizer

Toronto, ON-based

ATU Canada’s National President, John Di Nino, is condemning Ontario Premier, Doug Ford’s attack on Canada’s labour unions. In an announcement made today by the provincial government, Ford said he intends to recall the legislature on Thursday to invoke the notwithstanding clause to pass legislation ruled unconstitutional by the Superior Court yesterday to restrict third-party spending laws outside of election periods. If invoked, this will be the first time any Ontario government has ever invoked the notwithstanding clause.