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rfmcdonaldMarketing Magazine's Jeremy Lloyd was quite right to note that the official and union response to the TTC drivers' texting--even considering their firing--was unhelpful. To wit:
This segues directly into a major problem, perhaps the major problem, the lack of transparency in discipline. People who lodge complaints with any organization want feedback, proof that they're taken seriously. If they don't, then, well. The title of blogTO's post announcing the firing--"Texting TTC bus drivers will actually be fired"--reflects the disbelief in the idea that TTC workers could actually be punished for doing bad things, while the comments are full of people with specific complaints for fairly egregious behaviour by TTC workers who are upset that they've never heard back.
Is this a matter of complaints against TTC workers not being followed up? Or, is this a matter of the complaints process being confidential? Visiting the Facebook page of the TTC workers' union, ATU Local 113, you can read workers saying that they have been subject to discipline for any number of things. A press release from the union does state that the union doesn't publicize discipline, presumably the TTC following suit.
But, alas, Kinnear follows it up with the sort of TTC worker complaint against riders that's spectacularly aggravating, if only because problem passengers make up a small minority of passengers and it's galling to have people who are supposed to provide good customer service not doing that. Oh, and making unrelated complaints so as to detract from unrelated legitimate complaints is equally galling.
The TTC workers are up for a contract renegotiation soon. In the atmosphere of growing outright hostility towards TTC workers, and given the cost-cutting/anti-union Mayor Ford, can this possibly end well?
While the TTC said it is investigating the incident and has been vocal in channels such as Twitter, criticisms were renewed when Brad Ross, a TTC spokesman, seemingly chastised camera-wielding commuters.
“We don’t want a repeat of last year where people were taking cellphone pictures and videos of our employees,” Ross said. “That is not helpful.”
The comments appeared in city-wide and national news outlets, including the Toronto Star and CBC.
Scott Reid, senior counsel at Toronto PR firm Veritas Communications, called the TTC response “Dumb beyond description.
“You gotta love the TTC. It is to PR fumbles what Lindsay Lohan is to parole violations: High profile and constant,” Reid said. “One of the great PR lessons that smart organizations are quick to learn is the importance of thinking not from your own point of view but from that of the public. This is not a concept that the TTC has yet mastered.
The request to keep camera phones away from employees seemingly puts the blame for the illegal behaviour on commuters, Reid said, and “perhaps dumbest of all, it is certain to provoke the exact reaction they’re seeking to avoid. You want to get legions of riders taking photos of employees? Try telling them they’re not allowed to do so. This isn’t just a fumble. It’s a fumble in your end zone. Dumb beyond description.”
This segues directly into a major problem, perhaps the major problem, the lack of transparency in discipline. People who lodge complaints with any organization want feedback, proof that they're taken seriously. If they don't, then, well. The title of blogTO's post announcing the firing--"Texting TTC bus drivers will actually be fired"--reflects the disbelief in the idea that TTC workers could actually be punished for doing bad things, while the comments are full of people with specific complaints for fairly egregious behaviour by TTC workers who are upset that they've never heard back.
Is this a matter of complaints against TTC workers not being followed up? Or, is this a matter of the complaints process being confidential? Visiting the Facebook page of the TTC workers' union, ATU Local 113, you can read workers saying that they have been subject to discipline for any number of things. A press release from the union does state that the union doesn't publicize discipline, presumably the TTC following suit.
Recent reports that three Toronto Transit Commission Bus Operators have been terminated for using hand-held electronic devices on the job have prompted a flood of media calls to Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 for comment.
ATU Local 113 has a longstanding policy of not commenting on internal TTC disciplinary processes or legal proceedings related to individual members. Accordingly, the union will not be publicly discussing the status of these cases, either individually or collectively.
[. . .]
[Union head] Kinnear notes that the union has a legal obligation under the Ontario Labour Relations Act to represent members charged with violating TTC work rules or regulations, analogous to the right of any person accused of violating the law to legal representation.
"The fact that we represent our members charged with infractions cannot be taken to mean we condone the behaviour they are accused of. Defence lawyers are not assumed to condone the acts their clients are charged with and it is the same with union representation."
But, alas, Kinnear follows it up with the sort of TTC worker complaint against riders that's spectacularly aggravating, if only because problem passengers make up a small minority of passengers and it's galling to have people who are supposed to provide good customer service not doing that. Oh, and making unrelated complaints so as to detract from unrelated legitimate complaints is equally galling.
Kinnear added that these incidents are distressing to other TTC workers who have experienced a spike in verbal assaults and insults as well as "photo-stalking" encouraged by some media outlets.
"The overwhelming majority of our 10,000 members perform their jobs safely and conscientiously every day under often difficult conditions. It is extremely unfair to generalize the character of an identifiable group, in this case TTC workers, from the actions of a very small number but that is happening."
Kinnear also charged the media with selective indignation about public safety.
"The media are actively inviting people to take pictures of TTC workers who may be violating the law. But no media outlet has ever, to our knowledge, asked people to take pictures of TTC workers being assaulted, something that happens every day. It is certainly wrong to text while driving a bus but it is also wrong, and criminally so, to physically attack bus drivers. But maybe that doesn't sell as many newspapers."
The TTC workers are up for a contract renegotiation soon. In the atmosphere of growing outright hostility towards TTC workers, and given the cost-cutting/anti-union Mayor Ford, can this possibly end well?
