Still no truce in labour relations between CBRM, unionized firefighters

Cape Breton Regional Municipality says it is taking steps to address labour-management issues with its firefighters' union.

But the firefighters, who have complained about management bullying and harassing union members, are not prepared to declare a truce just yet.

Last week, CBRM's fire services committee was given a list of recommendations from a consultant on how to improve relations with the union.

Jody Wrathall, president of the International Fire Fighters Local 2779, said he isn't taking that as evidence of a thaw.

"Since that meeting we've already had two more issues happen," he said Friday. "They just don't care, right?

"I've been a firefighter with the city since 1995. We've had issues in the past, but it's never been this bad."

He said what is occurring "isn't normal."

"You don't get managers who are discriminating against firefighters, who are bullying firefighters, who are harassing firefighters."

Wrathall said the union has had a lengthy list of grievances under the collective agreement and complaints about managers under CBRM policies, and it is concerned about the effects on morale.

He said a number of firefighters are off work due to labour-management issues and he's worried someone will get hurt.

"It's a bomb waiting to go off," Wrathall said.

CBRM hired a consultant to meet confidentially with several firefighters and managers in an effort to get to the bottom of ongoing labour-management disputes.

Consultant's recommendations

The consultant's recommendations included hiring a new chief with strong leadership skills, meeting with the union members directly to discuss ways to improve relations, going over HR policies and complaint processes, and coming up with a shared vision for the fire service and changing the culture to get staff involvement in improvements to the service.

Gordie MacDougall, CBRM's director of human resources, said the municipality has 800 employees and five unions, and management takes all complaints seriously.

The firefighters' complaints against management are being investigated under CBRM's respectful workplace and harassment policies, he said.

"They're not being ignored," MacDougall said.

"They are formal complaints. They're not grievances. That's something totally different than the grievance procedure."

MacDougall said two of the complaints have already been dealt with, two are under investigation now, and one is going to an outside investigator.

24 grievances since 2010

Since 2010, there have been 24 grievances between CBRM and the union, which has roughly 65 members, he said.

One has gone to arbitration and is awaiting a decision, two are outstanding and the rest have been resolved.

He said compared to the other bargaining units, the number of grievances filed by the firefighters' union is not unusual.

"Some of the other unions are obviously larger," said MacDougall. "The outside union, there's 300 (members), and there's 200 in the police union, so it varies in terms of that, but I'd say they're comparable.

"We really don't have a lot of grievances. We usually try and resolve these things in labour-management, and if they can't be resolved sometimes in labour-management, then they end up in a grievance situation."

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