Westlock County’s unionized employees have voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of filing a formal complaint in the wake CAO Peter Kelly’s severance offer.
Lou Arab, a communications representative with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said on Oct. 9, employees met and opted to have the union file a complaint with the Alberta Labour Relations Board (LRB).
“Our members met last night and they did vote overwhelmingly to ask us to file the legal complaint with the LRB,” he said Friday morning. “That is happening, absolutely.”
On Sept. 25, Kelly offered all Westlock County full-time and permanent employees a three-month severance package — as long as they signed the contract by Oct. 15.
Last Thursday’s decision to file a complaint came the same day, Oct. 9, that CUPE national representative Marilyn Mottola sent a letter to all the county’s unionized employees expressing the union’s concerns with both the contents of the offer and the way in which it was made.
She cites the advice of the union’s lawyer that the offer does not represent a deal that’s “appropriate for our long-term members” because it doesn’t take into account years or service, and recommends employees don’t sign the offer.
Furthermore, the lawyer expressed concern that the offer is in violation of the recently signed collective agreement because the union was not consulted prior to the offer. Legal counsel is also concerned this decision was made without a formal motion of council, raising doubt that the money offered in the severance package would even be available if employees were to choose to accept it.
Arab said one of the most significant concerns the union has is what, exactly, the employer means when referring to the change of direction the new manager and council wish to take.
“We as a union have asked three times, twice in writing, for more information about that and have gotten nothing back,” he said.
Kelly said on Friday afternoon that he would not comment on the issue: “I don’t speak about personnel issues with the media.”
Reeve Bud Massey said on the entire scope of the changes is the customer-service efforts he’s already spoken about: opening the office for the noon hour, getting rid of the automated answering service and implementing a system to track incoming phone calls and requests.
“Other than wanting to increase productivity and efficiency and customer service, do we have a clear picture of it? No,” he said. “There is no grand scheme or plan.”
He also objected to the characterization of this offer as an ultimatum.
“People aren’t being told to get in line or else. People were given the option because some people suggested they didn’t like changing the lunch hour and things,” Massey said. “Peter was just trying to be nice to the employees.”
As for the contents of the letter and the complaint with the LRB, he said he didn’t want to comment because of the “serious allegations,” but he emphasized the respect he and council have for county employees and the work they do.
“I think that by and large, our county employees are dedicated to giving good service to our community,” he said. “In every public communication I’ve made anywhere, I’ve been consistent in saying we’ve got some really, really good employees.”
Arab said the lack of communication coming from the employer in this case is particularly troubling, and is “typical” of relations with Kelly but not of relations with Westlock County under previous managers. Members have told the union they were told they would know what kind of changes were being proposed prior to the Oct. 15 deadline for accepting the offer, but members don’t feel they have been given the information.
“The fact is our members have no information on whether to take the severance or not. They don’t know what’s coming around the corner if they don’t take it,” he said.
Arab also pointed out that during the recent contract negotiations, which were completed “within the past month,” the issue of a severance package or organizational changes weren’t brought up.
“There was mention in the negotiations that there wasn’t a lot of money, and we didn’t get the raises we wanted as a result, but there was certainly no talk of layoffs or voluntary severances,” he said. “This is completely news to us.”
He said morale in the workplace has seen a significant drop, as well, with employees now uncertain of the future and feeling put-down by the new management — specifically, with a new manager coming in and trying to make big changes without going through the process of determining employees’ strengths and weaknesses and trying to determine why processes have been implemented the way they have.
“By all means once you’ve done that and you need to make changes then you make the changes,” Arab said. “But this idea of ‘I’m coming in from Halifax where I’ve screwed everything up and I’m going to tell you how you’re screwing everything up,’ it’s sort of offensive.”
Ultimately, Arab said union members feel like offering the severance to every single employee is simply bad management, which is bad news for staff and county residents alike,
“I believe that taxpayers in the county should be very concerned about how poorly this is being managed,” he said. “This is not good management practice. This is walking into a cabin with a chainsaw and randomly going after the walls.”
