St. Lawrence union seeks answers after harassment ruling
Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
Members of the faculty union at CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence have lost confidence in campus director and director of studies Edward Berryman and called on the school to take stronger measures to prevent psychological harassment in the workplace.
The union’s annual general meeting was held May 28, four weeks after Quebec’s labour arbitration court found that Berryman had played a key role in a long-running psychological harassment campaign against longtime St. Lawrence teacher Lisa Birch. Two confidence votes, regarding Berryman and Line Larivière, the director of human resources of the Champlain Regional College (CRC) network, were held at the meeting. Ninety per cent of members present voted no confidence in Berryman and 100 per cent voted no confidence in Larivière, who is responsible for applying workplace health and safety policy at the CRC campuses in Sainte-Foy, St. Lambert and Lennoxville.
Arbitrator Julie Blouin harshly criticized Berryman in her ruling. Citing the ruling, the motion against Berryman noted that he “spearheaded a psychological harassment inquiry against Ms. Birch judged as serious and vexatious.” The motion against Larivière said she “failed to provide timely support, access to documents and other information, and respond to Ms. Birch’s requests for clarification regarding the proceedings against her.”
A third motion, calling on the college to take immediate action for a healthier work environment, was passed unanimously. The motion requested a response from CRC by June 11.
“A month after the arbitrator’s sentence was made public, CRC has kept us waiting to implement concrete measures to make the work environment safe for its employees. To this day, no representative of the college has tried to contact the victim; this immobility has caused additional psychological distress, not only for the victim but for all of our members,” union president Patrick Savard said in a statement.
Sources indicate that the grievances Birch filed with the arbitration tribunal are likely the first of many, involving several St. Lawrence faculty members.
Savard referred further questions to Yves De Repentigny, vice president responsible for CEGEPs at the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN), of which the St. Lawrence faculty union is a member. “It has been nearly a month since the decision, and nothing has happened – the college has not approached the union or Ms. Birch – and it has really made the teachers unhappy,” De Repentigny said on May 31. Although the three motions don’t force the college to take any action, De Repentigny pointed out that “passing a vote of no confidence in two key people sends a strong message.”
The morning after the union meeting where the votes were held, multiple sources told the QCT that Yves Rainville, the interim general director of the CRC network, and human re- sources director Viviana Delgado spoke to members of the faculty union executive at a closed-door meeting and reviewed the motions. Rainville then addressed teachers gathered for a breakfast before a planned professional development day. On both occasions, Rainville reiterated the CRC network’s confidence in Berryman’s leadership. Berryman’s mandate as director of studies and director of the constituent college was renewed earlier this spring.
Rainville told the QCT in a statement that CRC “takes the decision of the arbitration tribunal very seriously and intends to take appropriate measures to ensure a healthy and fulfilling environment for all of its employees.