CUPE members rallied in support of alleged bullying and harassment at Saint John Laundry. (Danielle McCreadie)
Dozens of unionized workers held a rally Saturday afternoon over allegations of bullying and harassment at Saint John Laundry.
Workers walked off the job earlier this week, but were forced back to work after the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board deemed the strike illegal.
CUPE member and nursing home worker Tammy Nadeau says workers and fellow CUPE members at the laundry have told her they have to “raise their hands to go to the bathroom,” among other accusations.
“There’s a lot of watching over them. The sad part is the workers in there from what I can understand is they believe in a quality of work, and with the pace that they have them doing now, they can’t give them that quality,” she said.
CUPE President Brien Watson says one worker at the laundry also shared her experience with him.
“When she spoke up and said that her feet hurt bad, she was told ‘that’s because you’re too fat. You can’t do this job because you can’t squeeze between these carts.’ This is the type of thing that is coming out of this workplace here,” he said.
“I mean, when every employee comes out of that building and every employee has a story, there’s something definitely wrong,” he said.
Watson says the harassment isn’t unique to just Saint John Laundry: “it’s everywhere.”
I’m out at Saint John Laundry this morning where employees and CUPE are holding a demonstration. The workers went on strike earlier this week over allegations of bullying and harassment, but were told it was illegal by the labour board. pic.twitter.com/nG4AGmwpZF
— Danielle McCreadie (@danimccreadie) October 19, 2019
“As we were gathering for this rally, I spoke to the members, and I asked them to raise their hand if they’ve ever experienced or had workplace harassment and bullying, and every one of those hands went up,” said Steve Drost, First Vice President with CUPE.
Drost hopes Saturday’s rally sends a message to employers, and the government.
As of what sparked the controversy earlier this week, Drost says two employees were denied their rights to request union representation.
“They were told to leave the premises, and when they requested union representation, the employer called the police and had them removed from the building,” explained Drost.
All workers that walked off the job earlier this week have since returned to work, says Watson, except for two who have been placed on administrative leave.
Watson says Friday’s ruling from the Labour Board was “expected.” He also cites an uncooperative government.
“The last time I’ve seen any disrespect by a government…was back in the McKenna days when we had to walk out in 1992 to protect our collective agreements. In my eyes, this is absolutely the worst. Mr. Higgs has a vendetta for the unionized workers in this province. He thinks…that he’s going to break this union but I’m going to tell you right here, right now we are going to last at least one minute longer than Mister Higgs,” he said.
Nadeau agrees, and says she sees similarities between the workers at Saint John Laundry and New Brunswick’s nursing home workers, who have been negotiating with the government for better working conditions for years.
“They’re not looking at the health and safety issues, they’re not looking at the respect issues, they’re not looking at the violence in the workplace, the bullying. We as union members are standing up to it because this is not acceptable,” she said.
She says despite the struggle, the fight isn’t over yet.
“We’re going to carry this back into our workplaces and we’re going to stand up for our rights. We know what it’s like to work in an unsafe workplace, we know what our rights are, we know how to refuse unsafe work. We’re just hoping that the employer will sit down and understand what we’re saying,” she said.
