by Sam Heaton
Activists held pickets at the Shoppers Drug Mart at 455 Gladstone Avenue from Sept. 6 to 8 in support of “Ryan,” a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union who claims he was unjustly fired from the store. (Ryan’s real name is being withheld to protect his identity.)
The picketers held signs and distributed leaflets to the public calling attention to what they describe as an unjust firing, and calling for Ryan’s reinstatement at the store.
A former merchandiser at the store, Ryan alleges that he was fired suddenly on July 16 following a reduction in his weekly hours over the preceding months. Though he had been at the store since it opened, Ryan says he was provided with no explanation for his termination.
“The employer has a duty to fairness, to a fair hearing, a duty to warn an employee before they terminate them…You can’t just dismiss somebody because you feel like it.” Ryan added that he is “not aware of any allegations that led them to decide to terminate me.”
Ahmed Hertani, a delegate with the Ottawa-Outaouais branch of the IWW, says the union had to contact Service Canada to be told that the provided reason for Ryan’s dismissal was “unsuitability.” No specific incidents or details were cited.
Hertani believes that Ryan was fired after “trying to open a dialogue with his co-workers to improve workplace conditions.” The response of Shoppers Drug Mart managers, says Hertani, “was to start cutting hours” and “eventually fire him abruptly one day.”
Ryan says that there are a number of issues in the workplace that need remedying, and that his way of approaching these problems was to emphasize that employees “need to work together to resolve issues,” adding that “it’s all about good teamwork.”
According to Ryan, his pay at Shoppers Drug Mart was slightly above the minimum wage, which he says still falls below the poverty line.
Poverty Free Ontario estimates the poverty line at an annual wage of $19,719 as of 2011.
Activists at the picket connected Ryan’s efforts to restitution to the overall issues faced by workers today. “We’re living in a world right now where our rights are being eroded every day, on a local, national and global level,” said Hertani.
“Constant fighting against the upper echelon of society is the only way we, as workers, are going to maintain our rights in society.”
The Leveller contacted Ben Gunter, the owner of the Gladstone Ave. store, whose only comment was that Ryan’s firing is “an internal matter” which he could not discuss.
Hertani said that the union has experienced success with previous pickets targeting instances of wage theft, and that other workers in Ottawa have reached out to the chapter.
“After our last victory over at another store, we had people call us afterward and say ‘I read on your website that you won against this employer. I had the same thing happen to me at this employer. How could you have possibly won? That’s amazing!’”
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 6, No. 1 (Sept/Oct 2013).
