CUPE files labour complaint, claims city garbage contractor fired employees trying to unionize
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2024 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The City of Winnipeg’s largest union has filed a labour complaint against a local garbage contractor, alleging the company interfered with workers’ attempts to unionize and punished some employees who took part.
“The union filed an unfair labour practice against GFL (Environmental). We believe that (there was a) violation of the employees’ constitutional rights to form a union. As a result, we feel the employer wrongfully terminated those individuals,” said Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500.
Delbridge said staff of the waste collection company, which provides some of the city’s garbage collection service, approached the union about a year ago and conversations followed over the past year.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500.
“We’ve been working with all of the staff… there to try to form a union (and) there were a few individuals that were fired just over the past year,” he alleged.
The union leader did not provide an exact number of the employees affected but said he believes “a few” positions were terminated.
“They complained to the union that they felt they were being pressured by the employer for their union involvement. The employer, we feel, acted wrongly by trying to interfere with an organizing drive,” said Delbridge.
He said the parties will discuss hearing dates with the labour board within the next month.
While exact dates haven’t been set, the Manitoba Labour Board has directed the matter to proceed to a hearing.
“It’s an application seeking remedy for (alleged) unfair labour practices, contrary to (several) sections… of the Labour Relations Act,” said Raymond MacIsaac, registrar of the board.
“It is an issue arising out of a certification drive and it does involve allegations of unfair labour practices by the employer.”
Officials from GFL Environmental could not be reached for comment Friday.
The union’s allegations have not been proven.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
X: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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