The New Normal?

As our dynamic world morphs into yet another phase of change, we look into the eye of the monster and stare it down.

Italy has now surpassed China in the number of fatalities it has experienced due to the virus. As unhappy as that news is, particularly for Italy, it means that China has gotten a grip on it. With care and attention, it will pass.

Looking to the situation for our own members at Red Deer Transit, Diversified Transportation, DATS and ETS, much is changing, but much is still the same. The good things are the same: Everyone still has a job. Everyone’s pay envelope is intact.

The challenges are around the difficulties of change, and tomorrow will be no different:

• Albert Transit, under contract with Diversified Transportation, will move to the summer signup 3 weeks earlier than expected.
• Transit Fleet maintenance and LRT maintenance are still on high alert for cleaning, but no changes to service levels yet.
• Red Deer Transit, which reported implementation of fogging equipment for yesterday had still not seen the equipment deployed by the close of business today.
• DATS is reducing service to match the reduced demand, but DATS Operators who are not at work are on standby at full wages.
• Community Shuttle Operators are on standby/special duties as those routes are converted for shield-equipped conventional buses.

Today’s big change is at ETS Operations. We’re all aware of the move to enhanced Saturday Service. The Shift Design Section, working at half- staff (did I say HALF STAFF?) has already come up with a new signup. It will be:

• hung tomorrow, Friday, March 20,
• start signing on Monday March 23 at 11 am,
• finish signing a week today, on Thursday March 26
• start working on Sunday, March 29.

This has all been pulled together at breath-taking speed by our Brothers in the Shift Design Section, Malwinder Gill and Cliff Bergunde. Congratulations to you both for working a miracle that will help end the chaos we have all experienced this week.

Operators are urged to look carefully at the choices before they sign, but in any event, we’ll be providing more detail in tomorrow’s update.

Please be kind to each other, to your various client bases and especially, to yourselves. We’re in this together and we’ll get through it together.

In Solidarity,

Steve Bradshaw

President\Business Agent