On the same topic, when someone is applying for a job and they don’t feel they’re treated fairly, there’s an appeal process. When somebody’s in their job and they feel they’re not being treated fairly, there’s a union — an appeal — process. There’s a grievance process.
When somebody gets notification that they’re being laid off, and they’re a potentially affected employee because of reduction, there really is no recourse for them. Like, to whom do they appeal? They could go through the staff retention exercise. But you know, it doesn’t necessarily work out if it’s in a different community or if they’re in a very specialized area of employment.
So here’s my problem: when the department, when the deputy ministers…. You know, the Ministers went to the deputies; the deputies went to the managers; and they tagged or flagged what they wanted to offer up as the reductions. And they tagged an employee and said, “Okay, that’s the employee; that’ll save this much money.”
Now, somebody else in the organization offers to take voluntary separation. They’ll step up, and they’ll take that, thinking the other person will get the job. But you know who approved that? The same manager who tagged them in the first place is the person you go back to, to say, “Can this person vacate this position so this affected employee doesn’t…?” It’s the same person you go back and ask. It’s a problem.
I’d like to ask the Premier: what recourse do we have for employees who are potentially affected if they feel they are being treated unfairly?