President of TTC’s largest union to fight removal
U.S.-based parent acted over fears Kinnear was organizing split from ATU International
The longtime president of the TTC’s largest union has been removed from his post in a bitter dispute with the organization’s American-based parent union.
Bob Kinnear has been president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 for more than a decade.
In an interview with the Star he said local union leaders arrived at their North York headquarters on Wilson Ave. on Friday morning to find that they had been locked out by ATU International, a Maryland-based union that represents 190,000 transit workers in the U.S. and Canada.
“They’ve locked out the entire executive board, removed us from office and imposed what they categorize as a temporary trusteeship,” Kinnear said.
He called ATU International’s actions “an attack on Canada and our autonomy.”
The surprise takeover came two days after Kinnear sent a request to the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) initiating a process that could have resulted in the members of Local 113 leaving ATU International.
Astatement issued by the new leadership of Local 113 Friday afternoon asserted that ATU International had placed the union under trusteeship after what it described as Kinnear’s “unilateral” and “secretive” attempt “to remove the Local from its 120year-old union.”
The statement accused Kinnear of acting without the consent of the local’s members or executive board, which it said was “a clear violation” of the union’s constitution.
Although Kinnear told reporters that all 17 members of the board had been removed, Manny Sforza, the ATU International vice-president who has been appointed to lead the trusteeship, said Friday evening that 10 of the executives have already been reinstated.
Kinnear’s representatives went to court Friday morning to fight the takeover and a hearing on the matter is expected in two weeks.
Kinnear said he was optimistic he would get his post back.
He said he had the support of the local’s membership, who, he said, were dissatisfied with the leadership of ATU International, because “they have not supported us morally or financially.”
In a press release issued Friday morning, the TTC described the conflict as “an internal union matter” and sought to assure the public that transit operations wouldn’t be affected.
“The TTC is working to ensure this matter has no impact on service. The collective agreements between the TTC and its unions remain in place,” the statement said.
Mayor John Tory echoed that sentiment, telling reporters that “we will, under the management of the TTC and all the very capable front line workers, continue to offer transit service, which is, I think, what people really care about.”
He said he hoped the union would “sort out its political issues . . . as soon as possible.”
A copy of the letter Kinnear sent to the CLC, obtained by the Star, shows he invoked a clause of the labour congress’s constitution that sets out a path for workers to change unions.
In the letter, dated Feb. 1, Kinnear accused ATU International of interfering “without just cause” in the local’s affairs, “insulting” its elected leadership and overturning “votes by our members on representation issues.”
Last June, ATU International inval- idated Kinnear’s 2015 election as president over what it characterized as inappropriate campaigning.
Another election was called, which Kinnear won.
A month later, he attempted to join the ranks of ATU International’s leadership when he unsuccessfully ran against Sforza for a job as international vice-president.
Chris MacDonald, political assistant to the president of the CLC, described the American union’s actions Friday as payback against Kinnear and local membership for pursuing their rights under the congress’s constitution.
“There’s no other way to characterize it. It was a retaliation,” MacDonald said. “Workers have a right to change unions and they have a right to even inquire about doing it.”