Bus drivers learn about dangerous passengers
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/12/2018 (1933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A unique training session offered to Winnipeg Transit operators by the Main Street Project has been hailed by the president of the national transit union, who said it should become a template for transit driver training across the country and front-line workers in other occupations.
John DiNino, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Canada, said he saw first-hand Tuesday what staff at the Main Street Project deal with on a daily basis and was impressed with the program the organization developed to help transit drivers.
“I think it’s a template that ATU Canada should be using across this country,” DiNino said. “I really believe what I witnessed yesterday and the training we went through is a tool that all front-line workers should be taught in how to deal with the public in general, not just transit riders.”
DiNino, in Winnipeg as part of a cross-country tour of ATU locals, joined 20 shop stewards and some executive staff from ATU Local 1505, which represents Winnipeg Transit operators and other transit employees, for a half-day training session at Main Street Project.
The training session was developed in response to a request from Local 1505 following the Feb. 14, 2017, killing of driver Irvine Jubal Fraser by a transit passenger who was believed to be high on methamphetamines.
DiNino said that while problems of addictions and homelessness are not unique to Winnipeg, he’s not aware of a program offered to transit drivers in other communities like the one developed by the Main Street Project.
Aleem Chaudhary, president of Local 1505, said transit operators need help to be able to identify people who are struggling with addictions and mental health issues and the best way to deal with them to avoid confrontations.
Rick Lees, executive director of Main Street Project, said the transit union was looking for customized training around how to better respond to and deal with people on the street, and how to distinguish when to engage and when not to engage with these individuals.
Lees said the training session has been revised after feedback from the drivers. About 100 drivers have undergone the session since it was first offered in April.
“We’ve designed this for transit drivers,” Lees said. “If someone is approaching a bus, they’ve got a story and (the drivers) have a few seconds to assess what that story is and the next moment is going to be how that interaction happens – that’s the training in a nutshell.”
Lees said the training provides insight on: what is homelessness, what is addiction and mental health and how does it present, some of the stories of clients, and how to tell the difference between a schizophrenic psychosis and a meth psychosis. The program also offers insights into the impact of residential schools on Indigenous people.
The four-hour sessions have been considered too short by all the operators who’ve taken it, Lees said, adding it could easily be expanded to a full day.
“There’s some hard core stuff to it that we thought it might be a little dry but everyone said they want more of it,” Lees said.
“My eyes were certainly opened to the role that racism and residential schools played in breeding the current conditions we see today. It was hugely alarming,” DiNino said. The program “helps drivers recognize the difference between a disability and an addiction and gives operators the tools to recognize that and de-escalate any difficult situation they may find themselves in, in terms of how to handle passengers.”
Chaudhary said the only shortcoming with the program is that it’s only been offered to new transit drivers, as part of their six-week training course.
The ATU booked the 20 shop stewards – all of them veteran drivers – off work to take the course, providing their lost wages.
“We believe every transit operator should be given this course but right now it’s only for new drivers and we think that’s wrong,” Chaudhary said. “Transit management told us it’s a cost issue – they can’t afford to book the bulk of the operators off to take the course.”
Relations between the transit union and the drivers with management and city hall have been strained recently. The union believes politicians and transit management aren’t taking driver concerns for their safety and that of riders seriously.
Chaudhary said recently tension is so great among drivers that they could go out on strike to push the safety concerns when their contract expires in January.
While the brutal killing of Fraser seemed to shock the community, the drivers say verbal and other forms of physical assault occur on almost a daily basis, most of it linked to fare disputes. The union has demanded the creation of a special transit police, which city hall has rejected. The union has also been critical of the city’s failure to purchase and install driver safety shields on all buses.
Chaudhary said he was told transit estimates it would cost about $250,000 to expand the Main Street Project program to include all drivers, adding that management is concerned about pushing that program during the 2019 budget process.
Randy Tonnellier, transit’s manager of operations, said the training was offered to new drivers only as a pilot initiative, which is about to end, and whether it’s extended or expanded to include all drivers depends in part on recommendation from the Transit Advisory committee.
Tonnellier said transit sees a great deal of value in the Main Street Project program and agrees with DiNino’s assessment but said no costing has been done by transit to continue or expand it.
Transit’s assessment and recommendations will be presented to the advisory committee at its Dec. 17 meeting, Tonnellier said.
“It’s a really unique and beneficial and positive training for employees,” Tonnellier said. “We really don’t have a budget cost for it but it is something we would move forward with if we get a positive endorsement from the transit advisory committee.”
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca