City threats against bus drivers were unfair: tribunal

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This article was published 11/01/2021 (1774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg committed unfair labour practices when it threatened Transit drivers with discipline for not telling riders to pay fares during bitter contract negotiations in 2019.

A Manitoba Labour Board tribunal unanimously agreed the Transit union’s job action was a protected strike activity under the province’s Labour Act.

The city threatened employees with discipline and job consequences for engaging in the activity constituting the job action, the tribunal said.

“Threatening employees for engaging in lawful strike activity is a serious unfair labour practice that strikes at the heart of the legislation… The board will not tolerate such action and those who engage in this kind of unfair labour practice should expect the board to consider the full range of remedies available to it under the act.”

The tribunal said it could have considered ordering the city to pay damages up to $2,000 to every worker whose rights were violated, but it wouldn’t because the union didn’t ask for it.

Romeo Ignacio, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said in a statement Monday he doesn’t expect the city to appeal the decision. The union represents about 1,500 Transit bus drivers, plant and equipment workers, and treasury personnel.

“There is no monetary component in this grievance,” Ignacio said. “Appealing the ruling would not only be an unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money, but such action on the part of the city will further erode the relationship with its employees.

“This is a huge win for us… this is also a huge win for the labour movement. We know how important transit service is for Winnipeggers. We wanted to keep the service going even after our contract with the city expired, but months of bitter negotiations pushed us to take a stand and exercise our right to take strike action.”

City officials could not comment Monday because they had just received a copy of the decision, a city spokeswoman said.

The Transit worker contract that expired Jan. 12, 2019 has since been renewed and was voted on by city council on Oct. 25, 2019.

In the midst of the tension, Transit drivers turned a blind eye to collecting fares on May 16, 2019, resulting in an estimated $45,000 in lost revenue. The union repeated the job action in June.

The labour board pointed out Michael Jack — then-chief corporate services officer and now Winnipeg deputy chief administrative officer — told the Free Press on May 13: “For any city employee who shows up and doesn’t do their job properly there are always possible job consequences… any human resources consequences you might expect for not doing your job.”

The city also posted a notice at various locations in the workplace and emailed it to the union, telling workers failure to follow responsibilities in the bus operator’s manual or given verbally by supervisors may result in disciplinary action.

The city posted the same type of warnings again in June.

No Transit employee was disciplined for the job actions.

There are still a number of other grievances from 2019 that have not yet been settled, Ignacio said.

“We are hoping that with this ruling, we can get the city to expedite the resolution of all other grievances,” he said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca