First: It All Starts At Home

 Sisters & Brothers, your health and safety and that of your family is our most important consideration, and that includes your mental health. For employees of the City of Edmonton, please keep in mind that Homewood Health is the City’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider.

Homewood offers free and confidential counselling services to all employees and their families (e.g. spouses, children, and/or dependents). Please take care of yourselves and loved ones. If you need support, call Homewood Health directly at 1-800-663-1142.

For Red Deer and St. Albert members, the available resources are different and I will post them as soon as I have them.

Second: You Are Amazing

ATU Members have stepped to the plate to ensure the Cities’ responses are the best responses possible. I congratulate you all and look forward to our continued leadership in facing the unbelievable challenges with which humanity is dealing.

Third: The Employers Are Communicating With Us

And most of what they’re communicating in ON TRACK. Protection of employees is the highest priority. I have commitments from the City of Edmonton for daily person-to-person consultation, still working to get that from Red Deer & St. Albert. More to follow on this.

Fourth: Tomorrow’s Challenge

Beginning Tuesday, March 22, a small group of operators will be assigned to transport vulnerable citizens (read: mainly, those with no homes) from where they are to the EXPO Centre for special COVID housing. These Operators will understand the logistics of the situation and will agree to the work or they will not be expected to do it.

Here are the details:

• The shuttle will operate from 9am to 9pm daily.
• Operators of these buses will be offered full PPE gear and helped to don it.
• The Operators’ compartment will be enclosed in a vapour barrier.
• There will be a Social Worker in PPE gear on each bus and a Peace Officer in a car following or actually on the bus.
• Riders will be screened for fever and other symptoms. Anyone showing symptoms will not be permitted to board.
• Riders will be required to sanitize their hands and wear a mask before entering the bus.
• Buses returning to the garage will enter into a temporary tented-off area.
• Operators returning will be met by an OHS worker or TPO to help them get off their PPE gear safely.
• AGAIN, AND I STRESS, NO ONE WILL BE FORCED TO DO THIS WORK. Only a small, dedicated group will be involved. For the rest, it’ll be business as usual, as usual as that is in these times.
• Maintenance workers receiving the returning buses in the tented area will be dressed in full PPE, including respirators.
• A full deep-clean of the returning buses will be conducted, including electrostatic spray disinfection.
• TPOs are tasked to enforcement of policy. They will have full PPE as needed. The Coordinator of the area has committed to the protection of our members as a first priority.

The Union has worked closely with ETS to establish these extraordinary measures to protect members who step to the plate to help these most vulnerable citizens. The Union is confident that the measures taken are fully sufficient to protect our members, our Sisters & Brothers in other Unions and the riding public.

Please ensure your own safety and that of those you work with. Keep a safe distance from each other, wash, wash, wash your hands and love your kids like never before.

In Solidarity,

Steve Bradshaw
President \ Business Agent