ATU Local 113 launches major public awareness campaign about the behind-the-scenes workers who maintain the TTC as one of the world's safest transit systems.

TORONTO, Oct. 9, 2012 /CNW/ - Today, Bob Kinnear, President of Toronto's Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 launched at City Hall a major multimedia public awareness campaign about the workers who keep the Toronto transit system one of the safest and most reliable in the world.  The campaign, called "Protecting What Matters," will feature TTC workers who are seldom, if ever, seen by the public they serve.

There are over 3,500 union members who work in the TTC Maintenance Department. They are the workers back in the shops where vehicles are maintained and restored who ensure that no vehicle leaves the shop that is not 100% safe. They are also track maintainers, vehicle and station cleaners and others who are, effectively, public safety workers because keeping the TTC safe is the major part of the nature of their work.

It is an established fact that TTC vehicles last longer than in any other urban transit system in North America. In the case of our buses, it's twice as long as average.  The skills of these public safety workers save the city millions of dollars in transit capital costs.

The campaign includes three 30-second television ads, a 90-second theatrical ad that will play in Cineplex Theatres in Toronto, thousands of TTC vehicle ads and a special website where visitors can enter a contest to win a daily prize of a free TTC Monthly Metropass.  It features a wide range of dedicated TTC workers, many of whom started as janitors and cleaners who worked their way up to operators, mechanics and the other highly skilled workers who keep Toronto moving.

The campaign, which is paid for entirely by the members of Local 113, will cost about a dollar a week per member over the course of their current three-year collective agreement, which expires in April, 2014.

SOURCE: Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113

Contact: Laura Ziemba, 416-712-0412