Staff
A little over a month after employees at Weechi-it-te-win Family Services voted to join Unifor, several staff have been laid off.
But Weechi-it-te-win said the decision is related to ongoing “devolution”–and not the decision to unionize–and wants to work with Unifor further to reach all parties’ collective goals.
“Some time ago, it was collectively decided and agreed amongst the various stakeholders in child protection that in keeping with all level of governments’ desire to reconcile with the indigenous peoples, services relating to the protection of First Nations’ children should be placed in the hands and under direct responsibility of the First Nations of which the children are members,” Weechi-it-te-win executive director Laurie Rose explained.
This process, known as “devolution,” long has been a core initiative of Weechi-it-te-win, also sometimes referred to as “the Society.”
Long before Weechi-it-te-win became aware of the drive to unionize, the following was posted on its website:
“Devolution is the delegation of authority and transfer of resources and ‘sacred responsibility’ for services from the Tribal/Central Administration offices of Weechi-it-te-win to the 10 First Nations,” it noted.
“The 10 First Nations have become the management structures of child welfare, and services are delivered directly at the community, by the community, for the community.”
“We anticipate that the union and our employee members of the bargaining committee understand and share the same respect for indigenous values of ‘family’ that informs the delegation of authority away from the Society and to the First Nations themselves,” said Rose.
“I confirm that the recent layoffs, while regrettable, are exclusively tied to the longstanding architecture of imminent devolution,” she added.
“At no time was any decision respecting pre-ordained layoff strategy informed by any anti-union sentiment,” Rose stressed.
“In that regard, as an employer we respect our employees’ rights and correspondingly those of their union,” she noted.
“We anticipate partnering with the union in furtherance of our collective goals.”
Rose assured protection service levels have not been affected by the layoffs.
John Aman, Unifor’s director of organizing, said last week the union is aware of the layoffs that recently occurred but needs to learn more details.
“In the normal course of action, because we are now the bargaining agent, the employer was required by law to notify us of any changes in the workplace,” he told the Times.
“They haven’t to date and the many attempts to reach them has been unsuccessful,” Aman said.
Unifor currently is investigating further as the reason given to various individuals regarding their loss of employment has been “inconsistent,” Aman added.
“The current action is very troubling due to the conduct and actions by some managerial staff before, during, and after the vote in spite of the rights afforded to the employees by the Labour Relations Act [LRA],” he remarked.
“Unifor anticipates the filing of an unfair labour practice complaint shortly, and we will be seeking any and all redress allowed by the LRA,” he vowed.
