CUPE accuses seniors home of union-busting

Union leaders are accusing a personal care home in South Tuxedo of violating freshly minted members’ rights by announcing mass layoffs on the same day workers officially received representation.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is preparing to file a union-busting complaint against Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence.

What’s happening to health-care aides at the residence is an example of “unbelievable retaliation,” said Gina McKay, president of CUPE Manitoba.

“This was an illegal action that the employer took. You absolutely, under the law, cannot be fired for joining a union,” said the leader, who represents roughly 40,000 employees in health care, home care and other sectors across the province.

McKay said the Manitoba Labour Board issued a certificate recognizing CUPE as the official bargaining agent for 80 health-care aides working at Shaftesbury Park Retirement Residence on Monday.

Also Monday, the union learned the employer had sent position deletion notices to 70 — or 88 per cent — of those frontline workers.

The complex at 905 Shaftesbury Blvd. has units for both independent and assisted living, including “memory care” support for seniors with dementia.

It’s one of six residences operated by All Seniors Care in Winnipeg. The parent company has nearly 30 facilities in Canada.

Health-care aides assist with everything from sorting medications to feeding residents.

“These terminations are not just about our members — our brand spanking new members. It’s also about the residents,” said Robyn Powell, a CUPE representative who helped assist health-care aides throughout their card-signing campaign.

“If my loved one were in Shaftesbury Park right now, I’d have some serious concerns.”

Powell, a national organizer, said health-care aides approached the union to launch a campaign in mid May. A certification application was filed on June 10.

The workforce’s rationale ranged from member concerns about overall transparency to supervisors ignoring problems, she said.

CUPE declined to share the exact results of the certification vote, citing employee fears about further retribution.

In order to set up a new bargaining unit in Manitoba, a union must secure membership cards from at least 51 per cent of employees in the group it is seeking to represent.

Both McKay and Powell said they intend to fight to have all the health-care aides reinstated.

The Free Press reached out to All Seniors Care via email and phone on Monday evening. None of the executives could be immediately reached for comment.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca