By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

some told to reapply

Return to former jobs not guaranteed for laid off City staff

Mar 30, 2020 | 2:17 PM

Concerns linger over whether City of Red Deer staff laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be getting their former jobs back once it’s over.

The City announced on March 20 that it was laying off around 120 casual workers as recreation and culture facilities were closing until at least June 30. The number of people impacted rose by about 50 as days went by, totalling about 170.

Red Deer City Manager Allan Seabrooke said during a March 20 media conference that workers would be “recalled” once the pandemic is over and operations at facilities can resume.

“Our casual employees that provide all the various services would automatically come back into those jobs,” Seabrooke said in response to a question from rdnewsNOW. “They would not be required to reapply for that job. It is simply a recall and they will go back into the positions they previously had.”

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But one employee who’s been laid off says they weren’t told that would necessarily be the case, telling rdnewsNOW that they were informed they’d have to reapply to get their job back, and that there were no guarantees about receiving the same wages if they did get it.

“What’s most frustrating to me is that I have worked there for many years and all they have to say is that they encourage me to reapply,” the employee says. “It is also unfair for me to be left wondering if I should be looking for another job during this time.”

Barry Brookes, President of CUPE Local 417, which represents usually close to 1200 casual part-time City workers, was pleasantly surprised to hear the City Manager initially say all staff would be automatically recalled.

If that’s not the case, he says Seabrooke needs to clarify.

“The employer does have a right to manage, so if there’s a way of reorganizing and fine-tuning the organization, this may be the time they’re going to do that. Unless they’re doing something not within the collective agreement, they have the right to manage,” Brookes explained.

Brookes says there was a script City staff were supposed to adhere to when letting people go, but the union did not have say in the script, nor could it control how individual managers went about sticking to it.

rdnewsNOW obtained two letters sent by the City to employees being laid off. The letters are not identical, but both cite Article 15 of the collective agreement pertaining to non-permanent employees.

Among other things, the article states that a non-permanent employee who is separated from employment will not have bumping rights, meaning if they have seniority over someone who wasn’t let go, they can’t simply take over that position. It also outlines that employees let go must be given five days’ notice of their release. The City agreed to pay employees for two additional weeks, plus one bonus week worth of wages.

When asked about the discrepancy, Seabrooke corrected himself somewhat.

“While my comment was mostly true, it’s probably not 100 per cent,” he admitted this week. “If in fact we don’t have all the programs back or if we change programs, eliminate some programs, or add some, it could be different. The other thing we don’t necessarily know is that once we are able to resume programming, what demand we’ll have. So we may not have enough positions for the [potential lack of] demand that’s there.”

He said it’s also possible some people may have found other employment by the time facilities reopen.

“We know of all the casuals we have that are doing a good job for us, so it’s logical we’d want that same person back if they have a skillset to do a new job,” he adds. “Under the collective agreement, we have to terminate and have people apply again, but we want our good people back — all things being equal that we have the program and the demand.”

Seabrooke also maintains that if and when an employee is hired back, it will be at the same rate of pay they were previously getting.