City probe impacting contract talks: transit union By: Aldo Santin Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 11, 2019 Last Modified: 2:12 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 12, 2019 Updates

From: Jack, Michael

Sent: Friday, April 05, 2019 4:57 PM

To: Browaty, Jeff; McNeil,Doug; Allard, Matt; Bowman, Brian; Chambers, Markus; Eadie, Ross; Gameiro, Carlos; Gillingham, Scott (Councillor); Gilroy, Cindy; Klein, Kevin; Lemoine, Marc; Lukes, Janice – City Councillor, Waverley West; Mayes, Brian; MayorBowman; Nason, Shawn; Orlikow, John; Rollins, Sherri; Santos, Vivian; Schreyer, Jason; Sharma, Devi – City Councillor, Old Kildonan

Cc: Wardrop, Dave; Wiltshire, Felicia; Kiernan, John; Cusson, Angie; Kirby, Robert; Fuith, Jason; Hildebrand, Jonathan

Subject: RE: Winnipeg Free Press Article This Evening

Mayor Bowman and Councillors,

I had committed earlier to getting back to you by end of day with an update on this, which is the purpose of this message. I will also attempt to address some of the items raised by specific Councillors:

• AVL (Councillor Browaty)

• Council seminar & union response (Councillor Klein)

• Monitoring mechanisms (Councillor Santos)

• Tracking cellphones (Councillor Lukes)

• Departmental culture (Councillor Eadie)

I need to reiterate that at this stage, we are still dealing with unproven allegations. We owe it to you and the citizens of Winnipeg to take this seriously and move with dispatch; likewise, we owe it to our employees to follow due process in all HR matters.

Beginning within minutes of having read the WFP article on Thursday, our investigation had informally commenced. This morning, the CAO’s Office, PPD Senior Management, Human Resources and Labour Relations met to chart out next steps. Our Labour Relations Division will be leading this investigation, which will include employee interviews beginning Monday morning. We have requested the private investigator’s report from the WFP reporter; that request was refused. We have already explored other options to obtain the surveillance evidence, and I am hopeful we will be able to obtain same in the near future. This would assist us immeasurably, as at the moment, we are left with a number of allegations not tied to any individual employee(s) (other than an allegation of one specific employee taking too many cigarette breaks).

Regardless, we also have to plan our approach for the event that we are not able to obtain the private investigator’s report. The investigation plan will consider all available evidence, including reviewing inspection files (both paper and electronic), and reviewing all available relevant data (such as the kind of information recorded on devices like tablets and phones). For obvious reasons, we will not be speaking publicly in any greater detail than I have just done while this investigation is ongoing.

With regard to specific issues raised:

AVL

I can confirm that our inspectors use their own vehicles in the course of their employment, not vehicles provided by PPD/Fleet. As a result, they do not have AVL installed, as that is limited to the City-owned fleet.

We have discussed with PPD whether, given the current allegations, this highlights a need to change that practice, and have inspectors solely utilizing City fleet vehicles. This business case analysis has been performed periodically by PPD, with the results typically pointing toward the status quo as the preferable route. There are numerous unintended consequences that follow from requiring all 57 inspectors to each use a Fleet vehicle, not the least of which is the need for overnight storage of an additional 57 vehicles in proximity to PPD offices, where parking is already scarce. In any event, in light of this concerns raised by the allegations, PPD has committed to reviewing current practice.

Council seminar

We do not have a seminar booked for this Monday morning, as requested. Apart from the difficulty in assembling all of you on such short notice, the primary reason we have not yet organized one is that this investigation has only just begun. We truly would have very little to offer you, and even less that we would be at liberty to divulge openly. I am happy to make myself available for any direct conversation any of you wish to have over the weekend and beyond. We just don’t believe it would be a good use of your time to pull you all together this Monday.

Union response

As no allegations have been substantiated and no formal proceedings (e.g. discipline) have occurred, we have no formal response from CUPE at this time. I can advise that upon reading the article yesterday, I connected with the President of CUPE, Local 500. I was encouraged by his unequivocal support of our commencing a thorough investigation. He was very critical of any employee who would engage in such time theft as alleged, and reiterated that CUPE has no interest in defending such conduct (if proven).

He also offered any support they could provide, and we committed to staying in close contact over the coming days to brainstorm how such collaboration may prove effective.

Monitoring mechanisms

Labour and privacy law have evolved over time with respect to employee monitoring. While some people often assume that employers have wide-ranging authority to engage in surveillance of their employees, that is typically not the case. All of our current practices regarding AVL, GPS tracking, CCTV cameras in the workplace and other types of monitoring comply with the most current law on these points.

Even with the use of AVL, the employer needs to demonstrate a business purpose beyond mere employee surveillance for it to be considered acceptable by a court, arbitrator or Privacy Commissioner. Nonetheless, as you would expect, we are taking this investigation as an opportunity to review all such practices.

Tracking cellphones

In certain circumstances and with certain settings, the GPS data stored by devices may provide valuable evidence related to these allegations. I won’t go into any further detail other than to assure you, our investigation will be carefully considering any available evidence.

Departmental culture

I need to reiterate that we do not yet have a full picture of what has occurred here, although we hope to soon. Councillor Eadie has raised some important and broad concerns. We will be using these concerns as good discussion points with and within PPD. I remain extremely confident in our Director and his Senior Management. I believe strongly that if cultural problems exist as Councillor Eadie has indicated, they are the right team to address any such issues.

While I doubt the above addresses every concern you all have, I am hopeful I’ve at least given you a slightly clearer picture of the path we’re intending to follow on this. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time for further discussion.

Thanks,

Mike

Michael A. Jack

Chief Corporate Services Officer