No pay for driver who didn’t want to drive bus with pro-life ad

A Peterborough Transit driver was sent home without pay because she refused to drive a bus with the controversial pro-life ads, says her union – a claim that one city director has refuted.

A grievance was filed by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1320 and obtained by The

Examiner. It calls for compensation for the driver who was sent home.

The grievance says the driver – a woman - was assigned to work overtime on April 4, the first day that pro-life ads appeared on the exterior of two buses.

“Her assigned bus featured antiabortion ads which she found offensive, discriminated against her and poisoned her workplace,” states the grievance.

It also says the driver feared she would face “vexatious” comments from the public.

“She was removed from her assignment and sent home without pay,” the grievance states.

One city official says that’s inaccurate.

Wayne Jackson, the city’s public works director, spoke about the issue because transportation manager Kevin Jones was unavailable for comment.

Jackson said the driver had accepted an overtime shift, but then balked when she was expected to drive the bus with the controversial ad.

She declined the overtime, Jackson said, and another driver took the shift in her place.

“No one was sent home – she chose not to do the overtime work,” he said. “Now she’s decided she should get paid (for work not done).”

But Tyler Burns, the president of the union, doesn’t see it that way.

He said the driver in question typically works a split shift – she works in the morning, goes home in the afternoon and then works again every evening.

A day in advance, she accepted an overtime shift for the afternoon of April 4. But when she saw which bus she’d be driving, she asked for another bus.

Burns thinks that could easily have been arranged – drivers are shuffled from one bus to the other all the time.

But the driver – who has requested anonymity – was told she had no choice but to drive the bus with the pro-life ad.

“When she refused, they took away the overtime,” Burns said. “She was more than willing to do the work – she just didn’t feel comfortable driving that bus.”

Of the city’s 100 bus drivers, about 20 of them are women.

Burns said some drivers feel uncomfortable driving the buses with the ads, while others don’t mind. He said those who don’t want to drive those buses should be accommodated.

“The bus is our workplace – and people are feeling uncomfortable in their workplace (because of the ads),” he said.

The ads on Peterborough Transit are sponsored by the national prolife group Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR). The ads are expected to remain on two buses for the next three months.

Although the city initially refused the ads, it later relented (so as not to violate the CCBR’s right to free speech).

CCBR later obtained a court order to ensure the city would stick to its promise to use the ads.

The city is now reviewing its bus advertising policies.