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Transit eyes Brit drivers losing jobs in Alberta

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 05/29/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Winnipeg Transit may ride to the rescue of 18 British bus drivers who moved to Calgary as temporary workers and have since been told they won't be able to work in Alberta.

In 2009, Calgary Transit brought 18 bus drivers from the United Kingdom as part of an overseas hiring spree that also saw the city offer jobs to mechanics and planners.

During Alberta's oil boom, Calgary couldn't find enough people to drive buses or transit trains after conducting countrywide searches. Under a federal immigration program, the drivers were granted two-year temporary work permits and allowed to settle in Calgary.

But now that the oil boom is over, only 4,200 of an estimated 60,000 temporary foreign workers in Alberta can be nominated to remain in the province under the same federal program, the Calgary Herald reported this week.

All of the U.K. bus drivers brought to Calgary -- including some who brought their families with them -- have been told they can no longer work in Alberta in early 2011.

Winnipeg Transit, however, might offer some or all of the British drivers a job -- provided they apply for temporary foreign worker status in Manitoba.

"We're prepared to consider hiring them," said Keith Martin, Winnipeg Transit's operations manager. "Recruitment is an ongoing challenge for us, as it is for all the large transit systems in Canada."

Winnipeg Transit, which employs a total of 1,450 workers, needs to hire about 100 new bus drivers every year, Martin said. The drivers from the U.K. are desirable because they each have three or more years of experience, he added.

"They've been driving on the right side of the road for more than a year," he joked to the Calgary Sun earlier this week.

The U.K. bus drivers whose Alberta work permits are about to expire were told about the Winnipeg option earlier this week. But most of Alberta's temporary workers want to remain out west.

The union representing Winnipeg Transit workers, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, had no knowledge of the possibility of taking in British workers as of Friday. Vice-president Lawrence Lavallee said there is work in Winnipeg for 18 more drivers, but could not offer an opinion about the absorption of the British workers who might soon find themselves in employment limbo.

"We would have to discuss that with the executive board," he said.

Sally Mann, owner of Portage Avenue's Brit Café, said she would welcome an influx of British drivers to Winnipeg -- and not just because it could mean more sales of bangers and mash.

"It's nice the more (U.K. expats) we have, because it takes us back to where we come from. We say words Canadians just don't understand," Mann said.

In the U.K., double-decker buses still ply some roads, although single-deck buses are becoming the norm, she said.

"Over the years, I suppose double-deckers became less economical," she said.

Winnipeg Transit's fleet is comprised solely of single-deck buses.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 29, 2010 B2

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