Toronto – OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas is calling for the CEO of LifeLabs to be fired over his dismal performance.
“The revelation this week that hackers may have obtained access to the personal information of some 15 million Canadians is yet another reason why CEO Charles Brown should go,” said Thomas.
“It’s time to say ‘Goodbye Charlie Brown,’” said Thomas.
“This guy spent so much time trying to rob his frontline workers of their right to join a union that he wasn’t paying attention to hackers slipping in the backdoor.”
Earlier this month LifeLabs workers in the Simcoe area strongly reaffirmed their desire to remain members of OPSEU despite their managers using every trick in the book to try to decertify the union.
OPSEU First Vice-President/Treasurer Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida says there can be no doubt that Brown’s anti-union obsession clouded his vigilance.
“LifeLabs executives were so focused on breaking the spirit of their frontline workers and turning them against each other, it’s not surprising the folks running the place made it a hackers’ paradise,” said Almeida.
Thomas also pointed out that Brown has little practical experience in the health care field, having been hired from the electronic retailer The Source.
“His leadership has been a disaster,” said Thomas. “We have more than 1,000 other LifeLabs workers in the Toronto area who want to join OPSEU, there’s a reason for that and it starts at the top. It’s time to stop playing dirty tricks on frontline workers and let them exercise their democratic right to decide whether to join a union.”
OMERS, which administers and invests the pension funds of many members of OPSEU and other unions, indirectly owns LifeLabs. If Brown refuses to leave voluntarily then OMERS should throw him out the front door, said Thomas.
“OMERS handles the pension funds of thousands of working people,” said Thomas. “It’s bad enough that OMERS would condone the way LifeLabs is behaving toward frontline workers, but OMERS can’t overlook that Brown was asleep at the switch with these hackers.”
“He has gotta go!”
For more information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas 613-329-1931