Winnipeg fire chief on hot seat at labour hearing

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This article was published 20/11/2017 (2889 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City of Winnipeg lawyer John Jacobs has his work cut out for him today.

He must convince labour arbitrator Arne Peltz that Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) Chief John Lane really was sorry when he apologized to 350 ambulance (EMS) paramedics for offensive comments attributed to him in a brochure prepared for a presentation he was making at an international firefighters conference in Maryland in August 2015.

Today is the fourth and final day of the hearing into a grievance by the paramedics union, MGEU Local 911, in the aftermath of a respectful-workplace complaint against Lane from 156 EMS paramedics.

Jacobs and his union lawyer counterpart Keith LaBossiere will present their final arguments today.

This has been a two-year ordeal that has sapped the morale of the 350 EMS paramedics, heightened tensions between executives of the firefighters and paramedics unions, and raised questions about Lane’s leadership.

Testimony during the first three days of the hearing, which took place from Oct. 11 to 13, brought the conflict between Lane and the ambulance paramedics squarely into public view, and Lane clearly looked poorer for it.

Lane, while initially admitting the comments in the brochure were insulting and offensive, had refused to issue an apology because he wasn’t convinced all 156 ambulance paramedics were genuinely offended. Lane, the testimony revealed, believed the paramedics union had inflamed the situation because of its long-standing concerns with some aspects of the dual role of the firefighter paramedics, who are represented by a different union.

Lane’s refusal to apologize forced city hall to hire an outside human resources lawyer, Pamela Clarke, to conduct an independent investigation. Lane told Clarke he would only apologize if it was shown he had done something wrong.

In a written ruling in July 2016, Clarke largely upheld the paramedics’ respectful-workplace complaint, finding the brochure to be offensive and insulting and that Lane had failed to take enough steps to alter the wording of the brochure, concluding he should have called off his presentation after the brochure had been published and distributed.

Lane did not immediately apologize, testifying that he was attending out-of-town conferences and on vacation, during which he said he spent a considerable amount of time preparing an apology, which was ultimately given in writing to EMS paramedics in November 2016.

Lane’s delay prompted the union to file a grievance. It was later amended when the apology was given, claiming city hall failed to take any action to address the paramedics’ workplace complaint and that Lane’s apology was too late, inadequate and not credible, given his own defence of his actions and his later actions toward the paramedics.

Only three individuals testified last month — Christian Schmidt, the operations commander and second-in-command at the WFPS; Troy Reidy, a veteran advanced-care paramedic employed by the WFPS and a vice-president of MGEU Local 911; and Lane.

Reidy’s testimony demonstrated the poor relationship between the union and Lane. Reidy said Lane consistently belittled and undervalued the contributions of the EMS paramedics — before the August 2015 conference and after the complaint was filed — and he constantly dismissed their concerns as infighting between the two unions.

It was Lane’s testimony that was damaging to himself and the city’s position. Jacobs will argue Lane’s apology should have ended the issue. LaBossiere, however, will likely stress that Lane has demonstrated a pattern of consistently belittling the EMS paramedics and his denials and his too-late apology are a continuation of that pattern.

During cross-examination by LaBossiere, Lane was repeatedly evasive. He said he couldn’t recall the damaging statements he had made to the outside human resources lawyer hired to investigate the initial complaint, and he constantly couched many of his answers with the phrase “everything has to be taken in context.”

LaBossiere was keen to present Lane’s actions and comments in the context of the relationship with the EMS paramedics and their union, accusing him of being a failed leader who had acted arbitrarily against the EMS paramedics because of his sour relationship with their union executive and had repeatedly shown favouritism to the firefighters at the expense of the EMS paramedics.

Peltz is expected to issue a written finding in three to six months.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca