Safe Driving Responsibilities in OPS Vehicles (MERC)

[Jay Bell]

Date: February 1, 2023 at 12:22:20 PM EST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Safe Driving Responsibilities in OPS Vehicles

Hello Everyone – I trust you are well.

On December 22, 2022 we all received a memorandum concerning Safe Driving Responsibilities in OPS Vehicles where we were threatened with discipline or dismissal for not following the applicable policies and procedures. I think we can all agree that stunt driving and excessive speeds while operating an OPS vehicle are not acceptable, but there was more to this memorandum then that. Your MERC raised a number of concerns around the Driver Attestation Form but we specifically asked the Employer not to require our members to sign it until they (the Employer) had met their requirements of providing the mandatory driver training. I can assure you that the Employers response did nothing to put us at ease, nor did they agree to our request around the form.

By signing this form we believe that you only address the Employers liability, while the Employer has done nothing to address your responsibilities while operating an OPS vehicle. If you read the OPS Driver Attestation form closely it states “Employees driving OPS vehicles are expected to review, and be aware of, their responsibilities under the OPS Safe Driving Guideline, the OPS Fleet Driver Manual, as well as any policies or procedures that may be applicable to your program area”. How can a staff person sign-off on such a request when the Employer has not provided its own staff with the required mandatory driver training; which is part of our H&S policies and requirements.

It has been brought to your MERCs attention that our members are being forced by their local management to sign the attestation form. For those of you who have signed the form, we would suggest you immediately contact your supervisor and raise the issue of training and liability. For those of you who haven’t signed it, you should also be asking the same questions as those who have. For some, you may also want to consider filing a grievance as the Employer has not provided you with the necessary training in order to operate an OPS vehicle.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your MERC team.

Please feel free to share with your co-workers.

In solidarity

Shawn
—
Shawn Burr
Co-Chair MECP OPSEU MERC

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