The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says it has laid off more than 350 employees who failed to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
In an email to Global News on Monday, Stuart Green, a TTC spokesman, said a total of 354 employees, or about two percent of the commission’s workforce, were laid off on December 31, 2021.
Green said the workers were fired for failing to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Read more:
TTC will lay off employees who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 31
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have followed science and the best public health advice,” the email read. “Experts commonly accept that the best way out of the pandemic and the best way to keep employees safe in the workplace is to vaccinate everyone.”
In October, TTC issued a notice saying that, effective December 31, any employee who has not been vaccinated or who has not shared a proof of “complete vaccination dose” will lose their job.
However, TTC specified that the measures would not apply to employees who had a medical accommodation or exemption approved by the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Green said the “hope” of the TTC was that “everyone agrees with all credible experts and willingly abides by the policy.”
“It’s really unfortunate that a very small number of people didn’t,” he said in the email.
Read more:
City of Toronto fires 461 employees for failing to comply with COVID-19 vaccination policy
Green said the policy and consequences were “clearly articulated for months before the Dec. 31 deadline.”
TTC employees who did not receive their COVID-19 vaccine were placed on paid leave on November 21, 2021, forcing the company to operate reduced services.
According to Green, there will be no further impact on TTC services, because the absences of the laid off employees were already included in the service changes in November.
Green said the TTC is now actively “recruiting, hiring and training new operators.”
Green said 200 employees have been on leave pending second shots or accommodations.
“That number is going down daily as more people return to work,” he wrote in the email.
On Saturday, Marvin Alfred, president of the TTC ATU Local 113 Employees Union, issued a statement saying it has a “responsibility to protect the rights of all members.”
“We believe that these layoffs are wrong and unfair, and that TTC can provide a safe workplace through reliable alternatives to mandatory vaccinations, such as regular COVID testing, as is being done in Mississauga and Brampton Transit,” it said. read in the statement. “Of course, ATU Local 113 fully supports vaccination against COVID-19.”
Alfred said union members were fired “due to a confrontational attitude from TTC management, lack of consultation with our union on policy, and management overreach” which, according to him, is “harming families. during a difficult time ”.
The policy and the layoffs are “currently before a labor arbitrator,” Alfred said.
“ATU Local 113 believes that we will finally be successful and our members will get back to work,” the statement read.
The move comes just days after the city of Toronto said 461 employees were fired for failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination policy.
According to Green, the 354 employees laid off by the TTC were not included in the city’s count.
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