Funding random drug testing short-sighted, TTC union head says

The head of the TTC worker’s union is criticizing a decision by a city committee to add money to this year’s budget to pay for random drug testing of transit employees, while at the same time declining to fund new subway reliability and track-safety programs.

As part of an omnibus motion on the city’s 2017 spending plan, councillors on the budget committee vot- ed Tuesday to fund two items that the TTC requested but were left out of the agency’s preliminary budget.

The committee agreed to spend $1.3 million on the controversial drug testing plan and $98,000 to employ additional transit enforcement officers. TTC employees had requested $4.4 million’s worth of “new and enhanced” services, but they remain unfunded. They include $1.2 million to improve signal, track and power reliability on the subway system.

Also unfunded is a subway safety plan — employing watch-persons to manage train traffic when crews are at track level.

The budget could still change before council approves it next month.

Bob Kinnear, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said the committee’s decision was “very short-sighted.”

“We’ve seen the results of not being proactive when it comes to maintaining our equipment,” he said, cit- ing the “hot car” issue that plagued subways on the Bloor-Danforth line last summer.

He said the track-safety program is also vital. In 2012, a track worker died when he was struck by a maintenance train near Yorkdale station. Asked whether the TTC agreed with the budget committee’s decision to prioritize the drug testing program over the other items, a spokesperson for the agency issued a brief statement.

“TTC staff believe all of these matters are important, which is why we included them in the budget,” Stuart Green wrote in an email. “The TTC board will need to direct staff on next steps if council supports the budget committee’s recommendations.”

TTC chair Josh Colle did not return several requests for comment.

The 2017 budget will go to the mayor’s executive committee next month, with a final vote expected at council’s Feb. 15 meeting.