OC Transpo to lay off 27 bus cleaners, union says

An OC Transpo bus is seen in this undated file image. (Leah Larocque/CTV News Ottawa)

The union representing OC Transpo and Para Transpo staff says more than two dozen garage attendants who help keep buses clean could soon lose their jobs.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 (ATU 279) says 27 garage attendants are facing layoffs, as OC Transpo faces a major financial deficit due to the ongoing struggle to get ridership back up to pre-pandemic levels.

In an open letter to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and city council, Jacques Racine, ATU 279's assistant business agent for maintenance and equipment, said the transit system relies on garage attendants to keep buses in serviceable condition.

"Our buses depend on garage attendants to keep them clean, fueled, and help make them ready for service," Racine wrote. "Garage attendants do an array of jobs at OC Transpo to help insure they are safe, clean and reliable buses for service each and every day."

Racine said buses are treated poorly by the public and without regular cleaning, they would quickly fall into a state of disrepair.

"The garage attendants clean these buses every day and remove urine, feces, needles, garbage, vandalism and more so that the public, every day, have safe clean buses to commute to work, go to appointments and get groceries, etc."

According to James Greer, director of transit bus operations and maintenance, OC Transpo hired several more cleaners during the COVID-19 pandemic that it no longer requires.

"OC Transpo’s maintenance team increased its staff levels during the COVID-19 pandemic to complete enhanced cleaning procedures. Earlier this year, OC Transpo returned to the standard cleaning procedures, thus reducing the workload and the requirement for the additional staff," a statement said.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, ATU 279 president Clint Crabtree says losing these employees would lead to service issues.

"It's going to cause dirty buses on the road and buses maybe not being fuelled and ready for service," he said. "Without these individuals working at OC Transpo anymore, it might cause issues in service.

"If you don't have the right amount of people to clean the buses, buses will not be clean and they will be put back into service. We're hoping that does not happen, that's the worst-case scenario, but potentially that could happen."

Crabtree said the union has been given notice that the layoffs are coming, though individual garage attendants haven't been notified yet. He expects those notices to be issued in early August.

But with OC Transpo in the process of hiring 500 new workers, there may be an opportunity for these employees to remain at OC Transpo in other roles.

"There's many positions available in light rail—if the train ever gets working properly—but those positions are available and bus operator positions," Crabtree said. "And we have a 36-month layoff recall that these individuals, if there was retirements and people leaving the organization in those positions, they can slide back into those positions if they desire to."

Greer says OC Transpo management is working collaboratively with union leadership to support the application process of affected employees within suitable roles across the department.

Racine's open letter, however, suggested OC Transpo should start cutting at the top.

"Why are the directors and GM being awarded bonuses when the city says they have no money?" He writes.

"Top management at OC received bonuses in 2022 for no reason as nothing for public transit has improved in the last 4-5 years… OC has far too many management jobs paying double what the employees receive yet the service they have provided is sub-par."

Crabtree says the union is very frustrated with what is going on at OC Transpo.

"When you want to look at an overall service review at the city of Ottawa, and that's what they're doing, and then all of a sudden 27 garage attendants are being let go due to the fact that they don't have money for the budget and then you see how much management there is in the maintenance division, is what this individual pointed out in the letter, he has real concerns that they have too much management in the maintenance division," said Crabtree. "And you've got to start looking at management, not just the frontline workers and the maintenance workers that clean the buses, maintain the buses, and fuel the buses."

Racine's letter calls on the mayor and city council get rid of what he called "top-heavy" management.

"My question to you, Mayor Sutcliffe, is do you think this is practical and fair that the management team, from the GM, director of buses, director of rail and program manager for booking and time keeping, program manager for section heads, superintendents of industrial garage, have mismanaged this place so bad that there is now going to be layoffs, after both directors and GM received their bonuses?" he wrote. "Change needs to happen, and it needs to happen fast."