OPSEU senior execs accuse local union leaders of "libel" for questioning culture of sexual harassment

Five senior executives at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have served a notice of libel against local OPSEU leaders who raised questions about the “workplace culture” at headquarters when its spokesperson, Donald (Don) Ford, was charged with 12 counts of sexual assault last November.

Now, both sides — top union brass versus elected local leaders — are lawyering up instead of talking it out.

Undeterred by the threatened legal action — and lawyers’ letters demanding a retraction and apology over their allegedly defamatory email — the elected union leaders will make a public plea for a new, transparent investigation into OPSEU’s headquarters when its annual convention opens Thursday in Toronto.

Despite their resolutions being ruled out of order by organizers, they will take to the microphones to demand an open debate on an emergency basis about how OPSEU handles harassment. And how the union deals with dissent by litigating, not negotiating.