Another letter penned by Naheed Nenshi has been obtained by The Counter Signal, in which the anti-labour former mayor attempts to prevent workers from striking.
The letter dates back to December 16, 2019, regarding a Labour Dispute between the City of Calgary and 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Officers (ECOs).
Nenshi wrote to the Minister of Labour and Immigration at the time, Jason Copping, expressing his concerns regarding the ECOs’ potential to strike.
“The City of Calgary is currently facing a significant labor relations matter that has the potential of becoming an emergency that will affect the safety and wellbeing of citizens in and around the Calgary area,” the letter stated.
After 13 bargaining sessions, a memorandum was created; however, according to Nenshi, the membership failed to ratify the proposed agreement.
A meeting with a government-appointed mediator took place where both parties agreed with the mediator’s recommendations; however, Nenshi remained unsatisfied.
With the ECOs allegedly failing to ratify their previous agreement, Nenshi assumed a similar outcome with the mediator’s recommendations.
“I am confident you will agree that there is an unequivocal urgency to this situation. I respectfully request your immediate action to resolve the serious situation citizens will face if job action is commenced,” Nenshi wrote to Copping.
Nenshi’s “preferred outcome”
Nenshi requested that action be taken before a strike notice was served and demanded multiple steps of intervention from Copping, one of them being the removal of the workers’ right to strike.
“Pursuant to section 112 of the Labour Relations Code, have the Lieutenant Governor in Council issue an Order in Council, the result of which will provide that all further action and procedures in the dispute are to be replaced by the procedures in Section 112, including that neither party can strike or lockout,” stated the letter.
Nenshi provided an alternative option to “establish a Disputes Inquiry Board…in an attempt to reach settlement” but made it very clear that his “preferred outcome” was to revoke the party’s right to strike or lockout.
