SGEU loses first attempt to block certain members from meetings
One of Saskatchewan’s largest unions tried and failed to convince a labour board to ban 12 dissident members from ratification meetings this week for what it called hostile, intimidating and chaotic behaviour during a recent series of protests against union leadership.
The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) accused the members, all correctional workers, of unfair labour practices for their activities at three ratification meetings in Regina last month.
On Monday, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board sided with the protesters by dismissing an interim application to block them from upcoming meetings in Saskatoon scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. It will hear the rest of SGEU’S case next month.
Though bad blood between dissident members and union leadership goes back years, the latest dispute stems from three Regina meetings where some correctional workers appeared in T-shirts bearing the likeness of SGEU president Bob Bymoen and the words “Not My President.”
SGEU’S lawyer, Crystal L. Norbeck, said the members did far more than that. The union cast the protest as so disruptive that it caused other members to leave, thus impeding voting on a memorandum of understanding toward a new collective agreement.
“We allege a threatening and hostile, volatile atmosphere at meetings,” she said.
Norbeck accused the members of yelling, swearing, breaking rules, wearing “smearing T-shirts” and even “perpetrating violence.” She said they created “an environment of chaos.”
But the dissident members insisted they were merely trying to ask questions to hold union leadership accountable and get answers on a deal they view as unfair.
Benji Hazen, one of the correctional workers, said SGEU is trying to “muzzle” its members.
“This is unprecedented,” he said. Norbeck acknowledged it was the first time a union has accused its own members of an unfair labour practice under the Saskatchewan Employment Act. But she pointed to sections of the act that forbid anyone from using coercion, threats or intimidation to interfere with union activity.
Arlen Nickel, chief shop steward for the Regina correctional workers, said he’s worried about the precedent the board would set if it ruled in favour of SGEU.
“This could be a huge potential issue when it comes to the freedom of expression, the freedom of opinion, if this is stopped,” he said of the protests. “This could have a major trickle-down effect through the entire labour movement.”
Nickel argued that members were asking “legitimate questions” about the proposed deal at the three meetings on Oct. 16-18. If the correctional workers were loud, he argued, they were merely trying to be heard in a room filled with more than 100 workers. He accused SGEU of trying to “silence and intimidate” its own members.
Another dissident member, correctional officer Scott Taylor, said he was denied access to one of the Regina meetings solely because he was wearing one of the anti-bymoen T-shirts.
“I was not rude,” he said. “I was not disruptive. And I complied with the orders that I could not enter the room to listen to the meeting or to vote.”
He called the union allegations “inaccurate” and “defamatory.”
SGEU filed sworn statements to support its allegations.
They accused the protesting workers of storming into the meeting and bringing it to a complete halt, as well as intimidating voting members and encouraging them to vote against the agreement.
According to Lori Bossaer, acting chair of the negotiating committee, the members were loud, repetitive and disruptive, and “flouted multiple sources of authority.”
SGEU says those actions put a “chill” over participation in the ratification votes.
Local 1101 Chair Angi Mcgarry wrote in an affidavit that she was at the meetings and witnessed the dissident correctional officers attempt to “hijack” the agenda. She described a “chaotic melee” as the protesters moved into the meeting room as other members were “trying to flee.”
She said she “believed” she had witnessed members leaving without voting.
After dismissing the interim application on Monday, the Labour Relations Board will go on to hear the union’s main motion in December. SGEU is asking the board for a declaration that the protest group’s activities constitute an unfair labour practice, and for them to pay the costs of security at the meetings, among other remedies.
The dissident correctional workers have been seeking to form their own bargaining unit within SGEU. They say their unique concerns are drowned out in the sizable PS/GE sector, which represents about 11,000 of SGEU’S roughly 20,000 members.
The collective agreement for that sector expired in 2016. SGEU is recommending members ratify a tentative deal reached this August. But the correctional workers have objected to the wage increases on offer as well as what they say is a failure to take into account difficulties specific to their workplace.
Nickel said his disagreements with Bymoen go back more than a decade. Their most recent runin centred on Nickel’s temporary dismissal for a Facebook post and what he says were Bymoen’s attempts to prevent the union from coming to his aid.