Friday, August 07, 2009
The London Free Press - August 7/09
Unions have role in cutting high city hall absenteeism
By JOE BELANGER
It's disappointing, but not unexpected that an arbitrator has ruled against a policy at London city hall aimed to reduce high worker absenteeism. Arbitrator Wesley Raynor, a former dean of the University of Western Ontario's law faculty, said the policy could be used to intimidate employees to come to work even when they're legitimately sick. Raynor noted the policy's repeated threat of termination and "the limited explanation of the need for discretion . . . create a definite tone of intimidation." The ruling leaves the city without an attendance policy for the next six months and chief administrative officer Jeff Fielding said management will draft a new policy in consultation with city hall unions. The policy was adopted after it came to light administration wanted to hire an attendance manager to help cope with an unusually high absenteeism rate among city workers. A review by an accounting firm concluded city hall employees missed an average of 19.4 days of work, more than double the national average of 9.7 days for civic workers compiled by Statistics Canada. The policy developed by management flagged employees who missed six days or more in either half of the calendar year. Managers were to work with employees with serious illness while others were also offered help but told to find ways to reduce sick days or face an escalating set of six meetings which could lead to termination. It sounds convoluted, possibly unfair and open for abuse and Raynor ruled it was. Unless the unions representing 2,200 inside and outdoor workers are involved in developing a new policy, it is almost bound to fail. That way the employees have a stake in its success. Clearly, the language and process will also have to be simplified. There's no question absenteeism has improved in recent years. For instance, absentee rates among London firefighters dropped 18.5% compared with 2007, and are significantly lower at Dearness Home for the Aged. No one can blame the administration for trying. They've had success. But all of us expect even more improvement now that the unions will be involved.
Those of you sitting in the ivory towers, you should take a look at the highlighted sentence. See you at the GSB.....