SNC engineers ordered back to office with one business day's notice: Union
BNN Bloomberg
A union representing SNC-Lavalin engineers has filed a complaint with the national labour board alleging bad-faith bargaining after a subsidiary ordered workers back to the office full-time with one business day's notice.
On June 2, Candu Energy Inc. mandated all employees to return to the workplace as of last Monday, a requirement the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) says amounts to a negotiating tactic amid a rotating strike launched May 29 at Ontario's Darlington nuclear plant, which Candu is refurbishing.
In a copy of the memo obtained by The Canadian Press, SNC executive vice-president Bill Fox reminds workers that a hybrid work model proposed to start Sept. 12 is "on the table," meaning that the abruptly announced "full-time in-office working policy could change when bargaining concludes."
Union spokesperson Denise Coombs said SNC-Lavalin's sudden move to bring roughly 900 engineers, scientists and technicians back to the office five days a week has sent them scrambling for living arrangements after more than two years of remote work. It amounts to an unfair labour practice given the bargaining context, according to the union's filing to the Canada Labour Relations Board.
