Dispute at Île-Bizard-SteGeneviève council turns nasty
Reports of an unhappy work environment in the borough of ÎleBizard-Ste-Geneviève have been circulating in the media for weeks now.
While the jury may still be out on how pleasant it is to work for the borough, evidence of a toxic atmosphere within the borough’s council was on full display at the council meeting last week.
A war of words broke out between opposition councillor Éric Dugas and Mayor Normand Marinacci in the opening moments when Dugas accused the mayor of circumventing the truth — essentially lying — during a radio interview. Dugas also intimated he had been threatened by another councillor in the parking lot in December and that there were witnesses.
Two Montreal Police officers and one public security agent observed the heated exchange from the sidelines.
Dugas said the mayor wasn’t truthful when talking to a radio host about the mood in the workplace and the borough’s rate of absenteeism. He referred to a newspaper report that said one employee had contemplated suicide.
“Quel théâtre,” Marinacci said of the newspaper report. “At the time of the radio interview I did, only two of our 41 white collar workers were on sick leave.”
Bad blood between Dugas and the mayor has been simmering since the 2013 elections. Dugas represents Équipe Denis Coderre and has announced he will run for mayor in the municipal elections, Nov. 5. Marinacci and remaining council all represent Vrai Changement pour Montréal. Marinacci was the only borough mayor to be elected from his party. He wants the borough to maintain control over certain responsibilities — including the hiring and firing of staff — and has been an outspoken opponent of Mayor Denis Coderre’s push for increased centralization of services.
The source of the borough’s current tensions reaches back to the spring of 2014 when Marinacci hired Nancy Bergeron, formerly of the human resources department, as borough interim director general.
According to documents obtained by the Montreal Gazette, by the fall of 2014, the relationship between white-collar staff and Bergeron had deteriorated.
Harassment complaints were filed against her and an investigation led by a workplace psychologist was launched by Alain Bond, the comptroller for the city of Montreal. The report ruled that Bergeron had been abusive toward employees. Bergeron did not participate in the investigation.
In response, the borough hired the law firm Dunton Rainville to do a second investigation which contradicted the comptroller’s findings. Bergeron did co-operate with in the second investigation.
Montreal’s executive council got involved by first suspending and then dismissing Bergeron, saying she was not qualified to do the job.
The suspension and dismissal were challenged and Bergeron was reinstated in March 2016 after a labour tribunal ruled that only the Montreal municipal council, not the executive council, had the authority to dismiss an employee.
Bergeron is back at her job, but unlike other director generals of municipalities, she does not attend council meetings.
Last week, Dugas demanded to know why.
“Because you would humiliate her,” Marinacci snapped. “Her name is everywhere. She has endured so much. If anybody should be on sick leave, it’s (her).”
Marinacci told the Montreal Gazette that he has supported Bergeron from the beginning and will continue to do so.
“She is very competent and has the university degree she needs to do the job,” he said.
Marinacci has moved Bergeron’s office next to his, in a separate buildings from the other whitecollar workers. She now interacts only with the managers in her office. They, in turn, interact with the other white-collar staff.
More complaints about workplace harassment were filed in 2016, but involved a manager who has since moved on.
The complaints resulted in the provincial labour standards commission — known by its acronym CNESST — recommending a third investigation but Marinacci is refusing to co-operate, calling the recommendation “politically motivated” and “a witch hunt.”
Dugas said the complaints point to a larger malaise within the borough hall brought on by Marinacci’s approach.
“It’s his way or the highway,” Dugas said. “He is an elected official. He is not supposed to meddle in the day-to-day (minutiae).”
Marinacci told the Montreal Gazette that the borough has a good relationship with its 54 blue-collar workers and 16 professionals and directors, and that it is just a handful of the borough’s 41 white-collar workers who complained because they didn’t like the way he “cleaned house” after he was elected.