Transit union president calls for more safety measures amid Omicron outbreak

The local transit union's president is calling on Halifax Transit to implement more safety measures, such as enforcing mandatory masks, as several vehicle operators test positive for COVID-19.

“Unfortunately, it hasn't been a very good Christmas holiday break for Halifax Transit ATU members,” Ken Wilson, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508, said in an interview. “Since Christmas Day, we have approximately 21 members that are [COVID-19] positive.”

He added that he doesn't yet have a number of people who are off work to self-isolate, but he suspects that number to be the same — if not double or triple — due to people being confirmed as close contacts.

Members are testing positive. Dealing with a variant many times more contagious than the original, Hfx Transit, mayor & council refuse to reinstate safety measures that kept us safer in Wave 1 & 2 Now ur service drops, as we lose healthy drivers & crew to COVID #Halifax #RT PlsRT https://t.co/c6d0MXzCR5

— ATU Local 508 (@ATU_508) December 29, 2021

“We're left on the front lines of a pandemic where we have, in the union's opinion, no support from our employer,” he said. “We've been asking for social distancing measures, enforcement of masks for the public and for operators … and that's not happening.

“I think we have a lot of pandemic fatigue going on right now where people were complacent. Halifax Transit is a big organization with roughly 1,000 employees, and we have an outbreak here that's starting to affect service to the point of it's only going to get worse before it gets better.”

Last week, Halifax Transit said a number of trips were being cancelled due to staff availability.

But on Dec. 29, Halifax Transit also announced an additional number of its scheduled trips will be cancelled due to “current staffing levels” for at least the next two weeks.

Starting Dec. 30, all planned cancellations and reduced ferry service — which can be found on Halifax's website — will remain in effect until further notice.

Wilson said all Halifax Transit is currently doing is following Public Health guidelines.

“Unless it's ordered by Public Health, [Halifax] Transit will not manage the company that they're supposed to manage,” he said. “That's where I believe a lot of this falls.”

For instance, he said other Canadian transit agencies — such as those in Windsor and Hamilton — have allowed vehicle operators to enforce masks on their passengers.

While some vehicle operators have also refrained from wearing masks, Wilson said he's heard them explain that they don't see the point in wearing one for their 10-hour shift if some passengers aren't going to wear one for their ride.

Still, he said the union is encouraging its members to wear masks, clean their vehicles in between changing shifts and continue physically distancing.

“We need leadership, we need it more than ever before,” he said. “We had these measures in place in the first wave where you had to get on [through] the back door and no more than 50 per cent of seated capacity could get on a bus. Those are for distancing reasons to keep people safe. They all went away after the first wave.”

Currently, Halifax Transit buses collect fares, allow passengers to enter through the front door and have a full-bus capacity.

However, Nova Scotia imposed new restrictions as the Omicron wave started growing.

Some of those restrictions include having a maximum indoor gathering limit of 10 people while other events, such as weddings, funerals and faith gatherings, can see up to 50 people gather.

“I don't have a crystal ball, I'm not a fortune teller. It takes bodies to run a transit system, and if we don't have the bodies to run a transit system, then we become unreliable,” Wilson said. “If we're not a reliable transit system, then that is concerning. It should be concerning for the employers, it should be concerning for all my members, all our riders and the municipal government.

“A lot of this could've been avoided if we would've got ahead of it as opposed to trying to be reactive. I think it's too late, now, to do anything at this point.”

Wilson said one thing Halifax Transit can do is find someone in the government — whether it's a person such as Premier Tim Houston or Dr. Robert Strang — to enforce masks on everyone who gets on a transit vehicle.

“I don't care if you're standing outside on the top of the ferry or if you're on the route #1 going down Spring Garden Road,” he said. “If you're on a public transit [vehicle] you need to wear a mask.”