Strikers accuse security guards of intimidation
Co-op boss denies private firm hired to oversee picket lines is acting improperly
The union representing striking Saskatoon Co-op employees is accusing the private security firm hired to oversee the picket lines of “intimidation” and other infractions, allegations the company’s president disputes.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1400’s allegations against Evident Corporate Investigations are detailed in a complaint filed on Dec. 11 with the provincial government’s Registrar of Private Investigators and Security Guards.
“The security guards presently employed by Evident, by their conduct, have clearly shown that they cannot reasonably be expected to be responsible,” the union said in the complaint, which asks for the registrar to investigate its claims.
UFCW Local 1400 spokesman Rod Gillies said he personally witnessed some of the incidents mentioned in the complaint, and that the union simply wants an investigation and the guards to be professional in their conduct.
In a lengthy email response, Evident president Dennis Birtles said his company is aware of the complaint and will co-operate with the investigation, but disputed the union’s allegations as well as its characterization of the company’s staff.
While relations between union members and employer-contracted security guards can be “adversarial” in the early stages of a labour dispute, the relationship between Evident personnel and picketers is generally “terrific,” Birtles said.
“We speak on a daily basis with most picketers and have good relationships at all the sites. Where conflict can arise is when we communicate about safety or legal concerns that some people do not wish to hear,” he said.
“That can increase frustration levels, and that can lead to conflict.”
The union’s complaint alleges that Evident personnel followed and intimidated picketers, threatened on one occasion to have picketers’ vehicles towed and, in multiple cases, refused to produce their licences even though the law requires them to do so.
Gillies said the production of licences is important to ensure accountability.
Birtles said he was not aware of any instances of intimidation, and to the best of his knowledge a threat to tow picketers’ cars never happened. He provided a different account of the union’s allegation that Evident guards refused to show their licences.
“It was clear to me that the point of asking for our licences was to collect the names of my staff. At that time we were advised (by the registrar) to stop producing our licences to any picketers, and to never allow anyone to photocopy or photograph them.”
“I’m satisfied, as we sit right now, that Evident is acting in a proper and legal manner,” Saskatoon Co-op CEO Grant Wicks said.
The deputy registrar, whose office administers the provincial act governing security guards, acknowledged receipt of the complaint and pledged to review it “as soon as possible” in a Dec. 12 email to the union.
A call to the registrar’s office was directed to Ministry of Corrections and Policing spokesman Drew Wilby, who said in an email that the ministry “received a complaint and will consider it as per the legislation and regulations.”
“It would be too early to comment further at this time,” Wilby wrote.
About 900 Saskatoon Co-op workers, who have been without a contract for two years, went on strike Nov. 1.
According to the co-operative, 160 of them have since chosen to cross the picket line and return to work.
Management and the union have remained at odds over a proposed second-tier wage for new hires since the strike began.
No bargaining dates are scheduled, and there is no indication the parties are any closer to reaching a settlement to end the strike.