Union says workers ‘deserved better’ after blowing whistle at Cape Breton bureau

Workers at the now-defunct Cape Breton nonprofit Island Employment Association “deserved better” for blowing the whistle at their bosses.

That was the central message to a Nova Scotia legislative committee Friday from the president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, representing the agency’s 30 staff.

The employees were laid off not long after the government of Nova Scotia withdrew funding from Island Employment in the fall of 2021, months after the ombudsman’s office identified serious financial irregularities at the organization.

Union president Sandra Mullen said this week’s report from the county’s auditor general, which found more than $1 million had been mismanaged by the employment agency, was “confirmation to our former members that they’ve done the right thing.” by reporting their concerns to the ombudsman.

“If they hadn’t, how much more public money would have been used inappropriately? How many more millions would have disappeared from the state coffers?” said Mullen.

“And what did those 30 people get in return for showing their integrity? They lost their jobs.”

The Auditor General’s report

The findings of the ombudsman led to more in-depth investigations and eventually to an investigation by the Court of Audit. It found “gross mismanagement” within the organization, with more than $1 million in questionable expenses and unauthorized payments made to the organization’s executive director and senior managers.

While nearly everyone who worked for the organization was subsequently hired by organizations brought in to replace Island Employment, Mullen said her former members not only lost their union membership in the process, but were also paid less and lived under a cloud because they reported had released about their bosses.

“So they weren’t just working in turmoil, they were now looking for other resources to replace that, in rural Cape Breton, which is challenging on many fronts, and they were under the cloud,” said Mullen, who said the auditor called the general’s report “bittersweet” for those workers.

Mullen told the All Party Committee that the provincial government should have fired the executive director, managers and board of directors, and allowed the organization to continue under new leadership, sparing the workers the turmoil they endured when Island Employment stopped.

But Deputy Labor Secretary Ava Czapalay flatly ruled that out as an option on Friday. She testified before the same committee and told the politicians that it was not feasible for the province to take over an independent organization.

“Saying we can go in and dissolve a board or fire an executive director is not within our remit,” Czapalay said. “Our jurisdiction is the contract for the services provided.”

She said the county “went above and beyond the contract to support the organization’s employees” by giving them two months’ notice and paying them severance pay equal to two months’ wages, neither of which were included in the contract between the union and the employer.