Union files grievance on behalf of planning engineer after councillor said he ‘lost faith in the public service’

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This article was published 10/11/2017 (2900 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The civic union which represents middle managers and professionals at city hall has filed a respectful workplace grievance following criticism directed at one of its members.

Richard Mahe, president of the Winnipeg Association of Public Service Officers, said the union believes the critical comments directed at Scott Suderman for his handling of the south Charleswood east-west corridor study project by Coun. Marty Morantz and CAO Doug McNeil were harmful to all of the union’s members.

“It’s important that the public and our members understand that for our members to do their jobs well, they need to be able to work in a respectful workplace environment,” Mahe told the Free Press, explaining that the criticism of Suderman had breached the city’s own policies on how its employees must be treated.

Suderman, a transportation facilities planning engineer in the public works department, had headed up a project team tasked with finding a corridor route through south Charleswood that would link an extended Clement Parkway to Kenaston Boulevard.

After the city team and a consulting firm held public consultations on three proposed routes, a fourth route – an extension of the Sterling Lyon Parkway – was chosen and submitted to the province for an environmental review without council’s knowledge or approval. Area residents were only informed of the fourth route in early October, months after it had been submitted to the province.

McNeil said the decision to submit the fourth route to the province without first disclosing it to area residents had been a mistake. During the public works committee meeting, McNeil apologized to the area residents for how the civic team had handled the project.

Morantz said Suderman and his team, along with the consulting firm working with them, had misled residents and subverted the will of council.

Morantz said he had “lost faith in the public service,” as a result of the actions of Suderman and called for Suderman to be re-assigned and the consulting firm to be replaced with another firm.

Suderman subsequently tendered his resignation from the city.

Mahe said that union officials had expressed their concern with the public criticism to senior civic officials and filed a policy grievance against the city.

Mahe would not elaborate on what remedy the union is seeking, adding that would be resolved through the grievance process.

Mahe said city hall has 15 days to respond to the union, adding that as of Friday union officials had not heard from the city.

A civic spokeswoman said the city was aware of the grievance and would respond according to the grievance procedure outlined in the collective agreement. The spokeswoman said the city would not comment publicly on the issue.

Morantz said he was also aware of the grievance but would not comment.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca