Toronto Transit Commission personnel
Open-knowledge reference entry
Most Toronto Transit Commission personnel are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113. Total membership (2016) is approximately 10000 members (drivers, ticket collectors and maintenance workers). The ATU has represented Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers since 1899; workers of predecessor operators have been represented by the ATU's predecessor, the Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America. The president of ATU Local 113 was Bob Kinnear from 2003 to February 2017, Carlos Santos from January 2019 to December 2021 and Marvin Alfred since December 2021.
Another 700 workers (signal, electrical and communications workers) are represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2.
About 115 station supervisors are represented by CUPE Local 5585. These employees respond to emergency, security and customer incidents at stations, as well as conducting inspections in order to minimize service disruptions.
Staff positions
Other than drivers and supervisors, the TTC also employs support staff to keep the system running:
maintenance employees to clean vehicles, stations, and other TTC property
clearing TTC roadways during winter months
engineers and support staff
mechanics that maintain all the commission vehicles
blacksmiths to make special parts, notably for the streetcar fleet
Union history
Unionized transit workers (Toronto Railway Company from 1899 to 1921, then the TTC after 1921) in Toronto began with:
Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America in 1892
Division 30 of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Railway Employees of America in 1893
Division 113 Chartered – Amalgamated Association of Street Railway Employees of America in 1899
Amalgamated Association of Street and Railway Employees of America in 1903
Amalgamated Transit Union in 1964
Local 113 of the Amalgamated Association of Street, Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America in 1952
Memorial
TTC employees who have lost their lives in the line of duty:
Reynold Achong – maintenance worker (electrician) hit by train while working on tracks at Summerhill station, June 1, 1982
Jimmy Trajceski – ticket collector stabbed to death at Victoria Park station, 1995
Tony Almeida – maintenance worker hit by unsecured scaffolding while removing asbestos from a tunnel south of Lawrence station, April 23, 2007
Peter Pavlovski – maintenance worker struck by work car while working at track level north of Yorkdale Station, September 14, 2012
Tom Dedes – maintenance track worker struck by work car and pinned into TTC pickup truck while off-loading equipment at McCowan Yard, October 1, 2017
2012 budget process
In an effort to cut 10% out of its 2012 operating budget – a request made by the Rob Ford administration to all City departments – the TTC announced that it would have to roll back service on most routes to loading and service standards from 2008. On September 19, 2011, the TTC announced that 250 non-union jobs would be eliminated. The cuts to the non-union positions will consist of both layoffs and "voluntary separation packages".
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