Calgary Transit to lay off 60 LRT platform workers, hire contractors instead
City says move will save $2.7M annually but union worries about safety and training of replacement workers
Calgary Transit has issued layoff notices to more than 60 people who clean and maintain C-Trainstationsand plans to outsource the jobs to a private contractor next month.
Employees were told Thursday they'd be out of work in seven weeks' time, said Amalgamated Transit Union 583 vice-president Neil McKinnon.
There were about 80 people doing the outside maintenance work last year, McKinnon said, but that has since dwindled to about 65, as some who saw the change coming took other jobs and weren't replaced.
City council directed Calgary Transit to make a host of cost-saving measures last June, after a third-partyreview of itsoperations.
Calgary Transit says the outsourcing will save $2.7 million a year.
But McKinnon worries about what replacing veteran workers with lower-paid contractors will mean for safety on C-Train platforms.
"The economy is down right now so, yes, they can probably find people to do that work for $15 an hour but I would suspect it's going to be a revolving door of people and I'm not sure what kind of training they're going to have," he said.
"That's their jobs to keep all of those facilities clean and safe andI want to emphasize the safe part."
'It can be dangerous'
He noted the workers have to carefully coordinate with C-Train drivers when maintaining, cleaningor doing snow removal on the platforms.
"It can be dangerous really dangerous if they're not in communication," he said.
"We've got people who have been there for 30 years for god's sakes, because they love their jobs."
The union wanted to bid on the contract itself but was not allowed to, McKinnon said.
Calgary Transit wouldn't comment on personnel matters,spokesman Ron Collins said.
The unionized employees' last daywill be June 23.
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