The combative head of the TTC workers union is stepping aside after 12 years of defending his members, advocating for more transit funding and occasionally clashing with the riding public.

Bob Kinnear, whose brash, plainspoken style and slicked-back hair have made him one Ontario’s most recognizable labour leaders, put out an automated call Friday to his union’s 10,000 members thanking them for their support.

“After 12 years, it’s been the most enjoyable job and the most difficult thing I’ve done,” he said in an interview later.

Kinnear told the Toronto Star that speculation over whether he would run in the local’s Dec. election was taking away focus from the issues the union is facing, including the threat of privatization to transit.

“One of the most important aspects of good leadership is knowing when to pass the torch,” he said.

At least two long-time union executives are expected to run for president.

Kinnear wouldn’t confirm rumours that he is interested in working for the Amalgamated Transit Union’s international office in the U.S., where his father is an executive.

He said he will take some time to consider future opportunities, but at 45, retirement isn’t an option. Kinnear joined the TTC as a maintenance worker in 1988 and became a driver before becoming union president.

He cited pension gains, no-contracting-out provisions and the legal victory that required the TTC to pay its workers health care premiums, as key victories in his time as president.

Kinnear said he was also proud of his union’s approach to a 2010 TTC customer service crisis. The transit workers Local 113 held a series of town hall meetings that, he said, revealed that riders were more upset with the lack of transit service than they were concerned about sleeping subway collectors and drivers stopping for coffee breaks.

TTC workers walked off the job twice during Kinnear’s leadership. The first time was the 2006 one-day wildcat strike that stranded workday commuters.

Then in 2008, when the union refused to ratify a tentative contract agreement, drivers walked off the job on a Friday near midnight, stranding furious riders and again bringing the city to a standstill.

Under former Mayor Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's policard) city council declared it had enough of the powerful transit union’s threat and asked the province to declare the Toronto transit an essential service. In March 2011, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government obliged.

The union is still appealing that decision through the courts, said Kinnear.

“It was disheartening to lose a right I believe in so fundamentally. I still believe workers have the fundamental right to withdraw their work,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Bob has a genuine passion for transit and for the men and women that he has represented for the past 12 years. As such, his place in TTC history is assured and I wish him well in his future endeavors,” said TTC CEO Andy Byford on Friday.

Kinnear, who got married last month, denied that his decision to step down was related to his personal life. “The local has always been my number one priority. I just felt because of all the rumours and speculation it was unhealthy for our members to not have clarity.”