Sidelined union 'whistleblowers' file urgent appeal for right to run in PSAC elections
OTTAWA — Three sidelined executives from component units of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have filed an urgent appeal to an Ontario court to get their union memberships reinstated before next week so that they regain their jobs and their rights to run again in union elections.
According to a notice of application filed this week in Ontario Superior Court, the three sidelined union officials would need to be reinstated by April 14 in time to apply to be delegates — and therefore eligible to run for office — at a union convention in September.
The three sidelined component executives, whose suspensions have already expired, say PSAC is using delay tactics with the courts so that they won’t be reinstated in time to challenge the incumbents. They also argue that some PSAC executives are also trying to eliminate anyone seen as a critic or whistleblower.
”They’re going to do everything in their power so that I don’t ever get to attend (the convention),” said Eddy Bourque, one of the sidelined component executives, during an interview last month. “They’re blocking.”
In January, the court allotted about an hour to deal with the short-term elements of two of the three cases but a judge decided last month that the matter would take longer than that, a decision that triggered more delay and this week’s appeal. The urgent appeal of the third case was denied straight away in January, court documents say, despite the similarities of the three cases.
The component union executives argue that they have the right to return to their jobs and run again for office. There’s also a financial incentive for many in the union movement who can earn up to two or three times more while working in high-ranking union jobs compared to their government positions. Bourque, for example, said he made about $180,000 a year as CEIU president, more than twice what he made in the public service.
The sidelined union officials say the parent organization needs to follow the democratic principles it claims to support.
“(PSAC) can’t treat members like this,” said Sargy Chima, the suspended executive vice-president of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), during a recent interview. “It goes back to our democratic rights.”
PSAC, including national president Sharon DeSousa, chose not to comment.
Ottawa-based PSAC represents nearly 240,000 workers across Canada and in other countries who work for the federal government, universities, casinos, community services agencies, Aboriginal communities, airports, and the security sector among others. According to PSAC’s 2024 audited financial statements, the union had a total budget that year of 172.8-million, the vast majority of which ($164.4-million) was derived from membership dues.
The CEIU, one of 15 PSAC components, represents the majority of employees at a number of federal departments, including Service Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Immigration and Refugee Board.
While there has long been friction between PSAC and some of its component unions, the recent history of these specific battles between the parent union and at least two of the sidelined component executives can be traced back to May 2023 when the component executives initially decided to support a campaign to vote against a tentative labour agreement reached between PSAC and the federal government.
PSAC responded to the ”no” campaign by suspending the component union bosses, even though they said they didn’t realize that they had broken a union rule by pushing back against the contract agreement. The “no” campaign was an effort to support union members who wanted to continue working from home.
As National Post reported in December, PSAC accused the pair of breaching the broader union’s constitution, court documents show, and later conducted investigations of their actions. The ensuing punishment included suspensions of their PSAC memberships for one and two years, which meant that they couldn’t do their union jobs.
In separate legal actions, Bourque and Chima accused PSAC of negligence and defamation and asked for compensation of more than $1 million apiece, and full reinstatement of their PSAC memberships and their jobs.
In the Bourque claim filed a month later, he accuses PSAC’s leadership of “abuse of power” for, among other things, announcing his suspension to members across the country and saying that members could be disciplined or dismissed if they communicated with him.
According to a statement of claim filed in June, Chima is accusing PSAC of “malicious, oppressive and high-handed behaviour.”
In the third case between PSAC and one of its component union executives, Alisha Kang, who was president of the Union of National Employees (UNE) until being effectively stripped of her role last fall, said in court documents that that she was set to expose “significant financial irregularities” and other union problems before being suspended.
Those irregularities, according to Kang’s claims, included a scheme involving union staff making “spurious or artificially substantiated” classification grievances, which were then settled informally by granting “general damages for human rights.”
National Post
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.