We, the Full Time Officers, want to give everyone an update on a couple issues. As you may know, City Council has approved cuts totaling $60,000,000 in this year’s budget, of which Transit has taken a hit of about $9,000,000. We don’t know exactly how Transit will achieve that cut, but Doug Morgan has informed us of a few things. He has committed to fully informing us early next week of all the ramifications of Council’s decision.

Of the things we do know, the largest portion of the cut is achieved by a reduction in operating hours, resulting in less frequency on some bus routes and LRT routes. We believe no operators will be laid off, but we don’t know yet about maintenance or office staff. Again, Doug has committed to letting us know early next week.

ATU, through its involvement with the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good, was a part of #KeepCalgaryStrong which was able to force Council to listen to the public before voting on the cuts. Many of our members were down at City Hall helping to ensure the public would be heard in this important issue. Ultimately we were not successful in stopping the cuts, but many City Councillors had their eyes opened by the support for public services, especially Transit.

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