Clerical Error from Previous Newsletter

It looks as though our January newsletter went out denoting it was the February newsletter instead. This was a clerical error and we apologize for any confusion.

A Message from the Support Group

The ATU Local 583 Support Group is made up of volunteers that are both active and retired members in good standing with the Local.

The Support Group, founded in 1974, is an unregistered not-for-profit group associated with, but not governed by, ATU Local 583. The group was formed to assist Members in good standing experiencing financial difficulties. We continue to operate completely autonomous of the Local.

We are self funded by donations from ATU 583, the Retiree’s Group, the sale of donated books (located in various Calgary Transit facilities), recycling of cans and private donors. All monies go directly to Members in need.

Since the Support Group does have limited funds, this is a last resort for Members who are experiencing financial difficulties. All requests for assistance are confidential. Requests must go through the process in place and be approved by the Support Group based on the information provided. We can be reached at 403-830-6458

Tax Receipts for Retirement/LTD Dues

Each year we send out tax receipts for those Members who have paid retirement or LTD dues. These dues are often tax deductible and this tax receipt we provide should be included with your tax documents.

We are in the process of sending the receipts out to the addresses we have on file.

This will be for those who paid their 2023 dues and previous (for instance if you paid your 2022 and 2023 dues sometime in 2023 you would get a tax receipt for both years.)

Collisions and Providing Your Personal Information

We would like to follow up to the CT News Clips regarding providing your personal information as a result of an on-the-job collision, this is the law under the Traffic Safety Act and as such any member operating a City vehicle must comply. If the collision results in any liability on the City side, you would be held harmless under Article 122 – Accident Claims. The only exception would be if you were acting grossly negligent. An example of that could be doing 75 k in a playground zone or an intentional criminal act that a normal person would see as unreasonable.

An accident as a result of simple undue care and attention would not fall into this category.

To put this in context, our President, Mike Mahar, has not seen a situation where the employee has been deemed grossly negligent in all his time with CT and the Local.

Exposure to Drugs While Working

We would like to follow up on a recent incident where an Operator was exposed to drugs while on the job – we would first like you to know we do take this very seriously. Your safety is of the utmost importance.

Secondly, if you believe you have been exposed and it is impairing your ability to drive, please secure your transit vehicle (Bus, Shuttle, Train, etc.), call Control and let them know you have been exposed and believe you are impaired and it is therefore a safety risk for you to continue driving. Then request WCB paperwork.

We suggest that even if you ARE safely able to carry on – you still fill out a WCB report in case there are adverse symptoms in the future from such exposure.

Please also seek medical attention if you are believing yourself to have been affected/impaired.

Code of Conduct/Training/MyHRConnect

Periodically our Members will be instructed to take part in training courses via MyHRConnect or similar.

Each time this occurs we get an influx of questions as to whether or not this type of training is paid. It is paid. You will always be compensated for your time with work related training modules and the like.

For Office and Maintenance employees, the City should be scheduling this during your normal shift. For all categories of Operators, if you are signed up, it should be scheduled within your normally scheduled hours and include any overtime or travel time if applicable. The same consideration for spare and your work must still follow the rules of the Collective Agreement. Operators will also have the option of doing it from home with the appropriate additional compensation.

If you ever experience an issue where you appear to not have been paid, or you have been told something is unpaid, it is best tor reach out to the Union Office for clarification.

Call Ins

This is a reminder that if you have a call in, regardless of what it is for, we advise you to bring a representative. One can be booked by either calling 403 258 1258 Ext 0 or via emailing booking@atu583.com.

We will require the following information:
Your name and badge number (if applicable)
The date, time and location of the call in
Who called you in (Supervisor, PP, etc.)
The reason for the call in
Your phone number should we need to get in touch.

You are to be given at least 24 hours notice of the call in and it is best to call or email the Union Office right away so we can ensure a rep is available to attend with you.

For those that may not know, a rep is a Union Steward who has received training to attend call ins. They are there to ensure the meeting occurs appropriately as well as to take notes and ask questions pertinent to the call in. They then submit their notes (and any concerns) to an Officer of the Local.

We have had a steady flow of discipline letters (and also letters of counsel which are not disciplinary but can be the first step toward the discipline process) where the Member did not take a representative. While this is certainly the Member’s call, we advise against it.

Should anything come of it down the road the notes a Steward takes or the information they obtain can be invaluable.

We know this information gets included in newsletters on a fairly regular basis, but this is because it is extremely important. One of your rights as a Union Member is to have a representative with you for all meetings with management. We encourage you to utilize this benefit.

Bee Clean

We have once again been receiving complaints about Bee Clean, for numerous reasons.

The most prevalent seems to be if an Operator has left something behind on their bus, it is being disposed of rather than taken to lost and found. Obviously, this is not an acceptable practice and if you have had an item disposed of in this manner, please email our admin at jacinda@atu583.com with the date, time, bus number and the item lost/thrown away. The more detail you can provide for situations such as this, the better equipped we are to address it.

We also have a Bee Clean Defaults form on our website which you will need to be signed in to use. It is pinned at the top of our News section.

Home, Auto, Travel and Pet Insurance

We have partnered with Allstate to bring you insurance discounts!

If you would like to discuss home, auto, travel or even pet insurance please contact our rep, Steve Watmough. We have had nothing but positive feedback regarding this partnership and the savings Allstate has found for our Members. We very much hope that you can benefit as well.

You must work through the Calgary West office to receive our Union saving so please be sure to contact Steve directly to get a no obligation quote today! 587-404-8923 or swatmough@allstate.ca

COPE 397 /jw