A showdown over the fate of the TTC’s largest union appears to have been averted, after the Canadian Labour Congress stepped in to prevent the transit workers from being poached by another union.
On Friday, the CLC reinstated protections against raiding the membership of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents more than 10,000 TTC workers. A week earlier the congress had lifted the provisions amidst a dispute between the local and its U.S.-based parent association, ATU International.
In a written statement, an official with ATU International said the CLC’s decision “is good for Canada’s labour movement.”
“This decision by the CLC speaks to the overwhelming support ATU Local 113 has received in recent days from the vast majority of elected officials, stewards and the hardworking transit workers from across our great city and country,” said Manny Sforza, the ATU International vice president official who has taken temporary leadership of the local.
The CLC’s reinstatement of the protections effectively prevents other Canadian unions from attempting to sign up Local 113 members. At a press conference Tuesday the president of Unifor, the country’s largest private sector union, had vowed to force a vote among TTC workers to choose whether to stay with the ATU, which is based in Maryland and represents 190,000transit workers in the U.S. and Canada.
That led ATU International to allege that Unifor was attempting to take over Local 113.
The dramatic weeklong dispute erupted when Bob Kinnear, the longtime president of Local 113, sent a letter to the CLC on Feb. 1 that invoked a clause of the congress’s constitution that could have resulted in the local disaffiliating from ATU International. Kinnear alleged that the parent association had failed to adequately support its Canadian local and that a majority of the local’s members wanted to leave.
ATU International claimed Kinnear was acting unilaterally and in response on Friday locked out him and the rest of the Local 113 executive and placed the local under a temporary trusteeship.
The CLC swiftly concluded that ATU International had violated the congress’s constitution by implementing the trusteeship, and retaliated by lifting the raiding protections.
It’s not clear why the CLC changed course and reinstated the protections on Friday. A spokesperson for the organization did not immediately respond to the Star’s questions.
The CLC’s decision is a blow to Kinnear, who was first elected Local 113 president in 2003. He joined forces with Unifor last week to try to force a membership vote, leading to accusations from ATU International that he had engineered the conflict in order to help the Canadian union poach Local 113 members.
At a joint press conference with Unifor on Tuesday Kinnear denied conspiring with the organization. He did not immediately return a request for comment Friday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Unifor issued a statement saying it was “pleased” with the CLC’s decision.
“Our union stands by the constitution of the CLC,” the spokesperson said. She added that the union said that it had not attempted to sign up any Local 113 members. “Not a single card has been distributed and/or signed.”
Although Local 113 now appears safe from raiding, the future of its leadership remains unclear. Kinnear has launched a court challenge to overturn the trusteeship.
ATU International has reinstated a majority of the executive after they agreed to sign documents opposing Kinnear’s alleged attempts to disaffiliate.
In a letter to ATU International informing it of the CLC’s decision, congress president Hassan Yussef wrote that he would institute the dispute resolution process laid out in the CLC constitution. Yussef said that Kinnear and the ATU would have an opportunity to present evidence.
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