Transit union looks to protect workers with new campaign
Posted Oct 16, 2015 4:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You might notice them at your next bus stop: posters with the slogan ‘Be an Easy Rider.’
They’ve been bought by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 583 which represents 3,700 members, most of them bus or C-Train drivers.
Union President Rick Ratcliff said union members expressed concern about assaults and other bad behaviour by passengers.
“They said ‘we need to send a message, we need to be safe in our workplace,'” he said. “So we’ve followed the procedures and here were are.”
“Doing some research, we did a lot of research, we did focus groups with our operators and got their opinions, we did an omnibus survey with the public and got their opinions and that leads us to where we are today.”
The union website added they have about seven reports of assaults per month.
Ratcliff added they had a meeting with Calgary Transit officials Friday about the campaign and plan to come together for ideas to combat the problem.
