Off the Bus: Fired Driver Says He's a Victim of Politics

A recently fired local bus driver thinks he lost his job because he spoke out about health and safety concerns at work and about what he saw as racist and provocative images posted at his workplace by transit police. His off-work role as an anti-war and anti-racism activist may have been factors as well, he told the Tyee.

His former employer, the Coast Mountain Bus Company, is refusing to comment on details of the case, saying it is currently being grieved by his union.

Marwan Marwan is a slight, soft spoken Lebanese immigrant who drove bus for the Coast Mountain Bus Company, a subsidiary of TransLink, from September 2004 until March of this year.

On March 8, Marwan said, he was called into management offices at the company's Port Coquitlam depot and told he was being fired for "time theft," -- filing time sheets that the company claimed included unnecessary overtime claims. Marwan believes that he was fired because he had objected to window displays in the depot's transit police office that he saw as discriminatory and provocative.

"It was at least 50 centmetres in diameter. It was a stitched patch, similar to a badge but extremely oversized. It had the twin towers in the background with a very aggressive and militaristic screaming eagle in the forefront with the words 'United We Stand'. The patch was displayed in the window of the police office and visible to everyone in the depot," he told The Tyee.

He says another reason the company might want to get rid of him was that he had reported what he believed were health and safety concerns about the natural gas buses that make up part of the Coast Mountain fleet.

Marwan said he is pursuing a grievance through his union because he is innocent of the time theft charges and wants to prove it.

'Fired erroneously': union

"I accept that my job is gone for now," said the father of three whose wife is expecting a fourth child in November. "I just hope the grievance will allow other drivers to be better prepared and protected."

"We believe the brother was fired erroneously," said CAW (Canadian Auto Workers) property representative Martin Fisher, who is handling a grievance Marwan has filed through the union to protest his termination. However, he said he was unable to comment at this time on the details of his meetings with Coast Mountain management about the case.

Jim Houlahan is a vice president of Marwan's union, and like Fisher he declined to comment on details of the ongoing dispute. He did, however, tell The Tyee that CAW did not believe Marwan's termination was for just cause. He indicated the union was hopeful and confident that it would be possible to resolve the grievance and restore the driver to his job.

One of Marwan's co-workers isn't reluctant to comment, and told The Tyee that she believed he had lost his job because of his political activism outside the job and his militant insistence on protecting his own and other driver's rights under their union contract.

"I wonder if the issue they have with Marwan isn't in part about his political views about the Middle East," said Kris Scott, who is a work place representative at the Port Coquitlam depot for CAW local 111. She said Marwan had been very effective defending his own and other drivers' rights under their union contract, citing his protests against unsafe work conditions and management-defined schedules for completing certain routes which many drivers see as unrealistic and demanding

Scott said she had encouraged Marwan, who she describes as "a good man," to scrupulously record all his minutes of overtime worked, in part to document what she and he agree is unrealistic scheduling imposed on Coast Mountain drivers.

Debate over 'timing points'

Marwan said that the disputed overtime claims involve some but not all of approximately 400 minutes booked over six months, all claimed since he transferred to the Port Coquitlam depot in 2008. "To this day," he told The Tyee, "we (the union and I) still don't know what is accepted and what isn't accepted by the company."

During all the time he drove out of the Vancouver depot, Marwan said his work record was unblemished and none of the overtime claims he made there were disputed by management. At least one of the overtime claims being disputed by Coast Mountain, he said, resulted from him taking time to help a disabled woman load with her wheelchair.

One retired Lower Mainland bus driver told The Tyee that disputes about management-created schedules and their associated "timing points," (specific bus stops on a route that must be cleared at defined times) have a long and unhappy history in the local transit system. Julius Fisher (no relation to the CAW's Martin Fisher) drove bus for 16 years for BC Transit, the body replaced by Coast Mountain. He told The Tyee that schedules and timing points were problematic for his entire time with the transit system.

"Timing points were a constant issue when I was driving," he said. "In recent years drivers I know have told me this continues to be a problem. I have always maintained that this will only be resolved when drivers have more input into defining schedules. Then maybe bus drivers will get what every other worker in B.C. is guaranteed by law -- regular breaks during their shifts."

Coast Mountain media spokesman Norm Fraser told The Tyee by email that:

"CMBC expects transit operators to complete their runs and trips in as safe a manner as possible, as safety is the top priority. All routes have time 'built-in' to their individual schedules to allow a recovery period if the bus and schedule get out of sync for whatever reason i.e. road blockages, construction re-routes, etc. There are mechanisms/ systems and people in place to monitor this and suggest modifications and updates when and where, if needed."

Drivers 'pushed to the max': union rep

One of Marwan's co-workers sees the role of company timing expectations differently than the company media spokesperson does.

"Drivers at this depot are pushed to the max," the CAW's Scott told The Tyee. "The company schedule allows 15 to 30 seconds for loading and unloading at every stop, even if we have disabled passengers or mothers with strollers who need help and time getting on and off the bus."

Describing the labour relations atmosphere at the Port Coquitlam depot as "unbelievably tense," Scott said, adding that many drivers consider the company timelines impossible to meet.

CAW vice president Houlahan agreed that labour relations at the Port Coquitlam depot are "sometimes bitter" and that disagreement over schedules for drivers is a cause.

"Scheduling is still a problem," he said. "This is an ongoing struggle at all our properties. There simply aren't enough buses on the road to deliver the scheduled service."

Officials for Coast Mountain would not speak to The Tyee about Marwan's claims other than to say in an email "this matter is currently in the grievance process, and it would inappropriate for me to comment at this time."

However, Norm Fraser, media spokesman for Coast Mountain, sent an email answering some general questions about company policy. He said a study including Coast Mountain and a dozen other public transport companies ranked Coast Mountain number one for "on time delivery of scheduled services." Fraser said his company's scheduled service was delivered more than 99 per cent of the time, but was unable to say how much of that delivery was on time and how much was late.

Complained about natural gas buses

About a month and a half before March of this year, when Marwan lost his job, Scott warned him that she had heard "under the table" from friendly supervisors that Coast Mountain management had Marwan "in their sights," and might be looking for opportunities to discipline him.

Marwan told The Tyee that he protested the 9/11-linked poster in part because of a series of what he saw as racist incidents involving Coast Mountain staff and passengers. In one 2008 incident, he said, an off-duty driver, a member of a visible minority, was challenged when he tried to use his company issued bus pass by a driver who said, "I know what you people do with these bus passes."

Then again, Marwan mused, his troubles with management might stem from his active advocacy for free fares for passengers, his criticism of the Olympics and his objections to what he sees as dangers for drivers using natural gas fueled buses.

According to the fired driver, he reported respiratory discomfort he believes was caused by natural gas leakage into the bus more than once, and in one instance he exercised his legal right to refuse unsafe work by parking the bus at roadside and calling for an ambulance. Marwan says that many other drivers have also complained of respiratory and headache symptoms when driving the natural gas buses.

Marwan's grievance went to a second stage meeting with Coast Mountain on July 23. Union representative Martin Fisher told the Tyee that he expected a response from the company within 10 business days.

If the issue of Marwan's termination is not resolved at second stage grievance, Fisher said, the union has the option of taking it to arbitration.