CORNWALL Ontario – CUPE has filed a grievance on behalf of security workers that were terminated Friday August 22, 2014.
Mary Unan, speaking from Toronto, shared that the process is underway with a hearing scheduled in October that will hopefully reinstate them.
For the 6-8 workers who lost their jobs that could be a long wait. Sources stated to CFN that the employees were fired for joining CUPE as they had not been unionized previously.
Most city employees are unionized. Emails to Dail Levesque, HR manager for Cornwall had not been returned by press time.
Ms Unan stated that CUPE considers the security workers who lost their jobs CUPE members.
Cornwall Labour Council President, Elaine MacDonald, who also is a city councilor responded via phone. She referred the question to city management.
We will be updating this story as more information becomes available. We can be reached at info@cornwallfreenews.com
Admin,
You were fortunate that Elaine MacDonald even spoke on the phone, she obviously responds more to some local issues than others.
Even when sick people appeal to her for help, it is denied, ignored and tossed aside and that is with medical information included as part of the update to her. Shame on her.
She could care less and she is not the only one at that table where we have watched one circus after another take place. What great actors we have! The nodding off mayor with the evil eye, the nasty tempered council member with his outburst at council,in public and more. The only thing missing is the dog jumping through the hoop. Shame on them!
If it wasn’t so pathetic you could laugh at it all. But we can’t because this represents the voices of neglect, failure and horrific bias in a community.
Their actions and lack of action are nothing anyone should want to brag about.
The few good people at council hopefully will remain, the rest need to exit as swiftly as possible.
I hope this issue for the workers is resolved and swiftly as possible.
I feel sorry for truly sick people in this community who turn to our mayor/council and Health Unit for support/education or any help.
They are out of luck!!!
The geese/pigeons and beavers have better luck in this community than many of the citizens do.
Wake up Cornwall people, many of these people who are presently on council and who are supposed to be representing your needs/important issues are absolutely missing in action.
Present in body does not mean present in the true spirit of caring, compassion, intelligence and or even grasping the serious nature of some issues presented to them.
They are not taking care of business as they should be, or should I rephrase saying, they are selectively taking care of the business that interests them or benefits their profile in some manner.
If they cared, never would they have done the things they did, in the past or now.
They are selective in their decisions about the people or issues they want to represent. The rest are tossed right out the room/door, but, did we not already see what happened previously when another serious issue took place in the room with CFN?
We did! Anyone watching or reading was more than aware of what transpired that night.
Elaine MacDonald and the majority of others sitting at that council table, including the mayor will never have my support,or the support of others I know.
This is worse than groundhog day, bad continues to repeat itself over and over and people apparently seem quite content to turn a blind and just go along with it.
Thankfully, not all!
Is this really the culture of this community?
One Who Cares you said everything so eloquently. Everything that you said is absolutely true and I have been saying for a mighty long time that people just go along no matter how bad things are and that is not the thing to do folks. You have to stand up for yourselves or others will walk all over you which is being done at the present time. You can’t get any worse than what is in the present administration. If Bare Ass and his bunch of clowns get in the next time you can literally kiss Cornwall goodbye because I can tell you that things will be a great deal worse than what you all see just now. Wake up and those words have great meaning. Big changes are needed and Leslie O’Shaughnessey is the best to overthrow Bare Ass. Jamie Gilcig is a mighty good man but Leslie has the experience and the knowledge to win and make a better Cornwall for all and not just a few.
@OWC. Cornwall as a community is not exempt from the simple truth that the majority of voters are uniformed and rather apathetic to say the least.
The current council and mayor were voted in by approximately 40% of eligible voters. Not much of a turn out and a rather sad commentary on the interest level of our citizens.
Since most voters rely on campaign hype within the last weeks leading up to election time the results do not reflect necessarily the reality but rather more the popularity. I might go as far to say that political elections municipally, provincially and federally have merely become a crap shoot based on campaign hype. More of a contest about who can look the best not necessarily who is the best. C’est la vie.
It may be likely that rather than employees the city will tender out for a security firm to bid on providing the service required. This would be a cost cutting measure that would generally result in a savings to the taxpayer. Someone at the city may be earning their salary on this move if that is the case.
David imagine how much we’d save if we “outsourced” our elected officials and city management? If these people were let go because they joined a union that would not be cool.
Mr. Oldham you said it best. It is a popularity contest indeed and those who gave in the contributions to that particular person to run and the backing. Elections are not fair and I have said that for more years than what I can think about. It will take some doing to get me out to vote for PM but I will do it because I don’t want Pot Head Trudeau in at all. I will make that sacrifice.
@ David Oldham, I agree.
First comes the hype, photo opportunities, hand shaking and baby kissing followed later by broken election promises.
Yes it is as you state “a rather sad commentary on the interest level of our citizens”.
One also has to wonder how these employees felt when they found out they were let go under such circumstances.
It certainly would not have been a good way to begin a long weekend and especially if they had families or children returning to school.
I am certain we will learn more from CFN about this issue in the future.
Bad things continue happening in this community to good people.
I certainly feel for anyone who loses a job/career due to circumstances beyond their control.
I am a fan of free enterprise and while I fully respect that there was a time and place for “unions” eventually people will understand and embrace the reality that we have moved into the Digital Age. What value do unions currently offer other than to drive up the costs of doing business and/or fuel government spending to cover the gross inequity between the public and private sectors. All tax payers lose and it is time to think, regroup and move on in a realistic and competitive manner. Unrealistic demands will be our downfall if we do not revamp and address an unsustainable system.
Is the situation in Greece still not fresh in peoples minds? Or do Canadians somehow think that their greed is different?
Canadians think that everything is great and nothing will happen here like Greece and elsewhere. I have news for them that no bank in the entire world is safe and all done by design to collapse. That is coming sooner than people think. There is no safe country anywhere on earth and there never was and never will be. What is to come is that a lot of people will have to be “entrepreneurs” meaning that you make your own businesses. Unions will be thing of the past as well. You will work for what you get.
Seems to me Elaine is in a CONFLICT of Interest situation attempting to wear two separate hats that just don’t fit well together. As a Labor Leader she handled this situation badly while she no doubt expects labor to support her, she failed to stand up and support them.
Elaine will no doubt lead the Labor Day Parade to-morrow and perhaps continue thinking that she did nothing wrong.
unions still serve a purpose. They are not only in the PS. They protect workers. And no, I do not want to get into a discussion on the value of unions.
Necessity is the mother of invention and organized labour was born of necessity… it came from the crying need for reasonable conditions in the workplace and a fair wage for workers — and the only way workers could achieve either was by uniting to press their case.
But like many movements, which crest then crash, the ranks of organized labour once swelled, and made it the norm to work 40 hours or less in a five day week (even for the wider non-unionized), with wages left over to spend around the community and the local economy … now though that money is too often spent on empty pursuits and selfish pleasure while the original needs (and reasonableness) that started it are given over to greed, and the fire that united works now burning out. (It’s time for dedicated members to put things back on track).
Now unions and management are indistinguishable in their self interest, run by the self serving with personal agendas — Their spokespersons two faced hypocrites …for which one needs look no further than Cornwall’s own city councillor Elaine MacDonald.
Dump her and the steaming turds that sit with her. End the never ending disgrace that they bring to Cornwall.
Elaine MacDonald has a double set of standards. She supports education, yet refuses to support the necessity of other environmental education.
Shame on you Elaine MacDonald because in this community people are sick and need your support, you do what most have done, hide under the desk, ignore the pleas for help and just go about your jolly business without flinching so much as an eye.
Perhaps one day this will be someone you do know who is ill, who does need help/support and I can bet you would move a lot faster, take this more seriously and actually show some interest and do something about it.
But then…..you are seeking votes again?
Of course, we can’t muddy the waters can we!
Again I repeat, Shame on YOU!!
Disgraceful, disgraceful, disgraceful!!!!!
Do the words CANCER, Congestive Heart Failure, Asthma, COPD and more not mean anything to you at all?
Are you and so many others on council, including the mayor so absolutely oblivious of the issues that surround you?
What excuse do you have?
Are you unable to read the material that is sent to you?
Are you unable to reply?
Are you that rude?
It appears to be and in that council room you certainly are in good company as the majority have the same (lack of manners).
Are you so unaware of the many other important issues pertaining to our environment that are going on in the world other than those certain few you support?
It is quite obvious, with this (most) council, mayor and Health Unit that the writing is on the wall.
We don’t need a magnifying glass to see it!
The lack of care and true concern, speaks for itself.
How anyone can turn away from helping sick people in need is beyond my human comprehension!
Yet, you appear to be experts at it.
Hugger my daughter is in a union where she works and they rip off those dues where she works and is only working two days a week at 4 1/2 to 5 hours a day and sometimes an hour more. She works minimum wage and that is for now until she goes out and looks for better. The union today is to make money and they don’t care about the workers. There is a very high turnout where my daughter works and she has been there for 7 months now. One thing that she has gained was working with the people and it is mighty hard to work with the public.
Some union sre good, some are bad. PS unions have a reputation for being bad.
I heard that the public service itself is not like what it used to be. One woman that my daughter used to work with here in Ottawa went in as a term and couldn’t wait to leave. She said that so many people were not happy at all. One lady that I spoke with in the Public Service told me that so many things changed compared to the days that I worked. I worked with a lot of good people. Yes the unions in the Public Service were not good in my day and much worse today from what I gather.
The PS unions in the federal PS are not very good at protecting their members now. At one point they were. But when you have a PM that is hell-bent on destroying the federal PS unions there is not much they can do. They can just hope for the best. When I left I was paying $65/month and what did I get? Not very much. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that crap now.
@Hugger1. A very real dilemma. The government is attempting to reign in the largest single reason that drives increased taxation while unions fight for greater costs (wages and benefits)with no understanding or seeming concern for what impact greed has on competition and ultimately jobs.
Unions threaten job security because they drive wages and benefits to unsustainable levels and have been for over 25 years. There is little correlation between income and productivity of certain union controlled groups, for example teachers. When you compare teachers compensation around the globe and relative performance, Canadian teachers are not the model of value for money. This direction is not sustainable.
I would welcome a challenge on these statements and opinion. Discussion and debate can be enlightening.
David. Can you cite any credible studies that show that Canadian teachers under-perform relative to their compensation when compared to teachers in the rest of the world? And the conservative/Conservative Fraser Institute doesn’t count. We already know what they think of unions, teachers etc.
Everyone knows that this is really another back door deal made between the CAO and his friend with a certain security company to get a contract. A friendship deal and the union story is only a smoke screen. Is his announced retirement due to him running before the truth of more shady deals comes out after the October election? Wait and see.