The head of a union that represents some of the workers at the Middlesex-London Health Unit is alleging long-standing workplace culture issues under Dr. Chris Mackie, who is currently on leave as medical officer of health.
CUPE Local 101 president Steve Holland said even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were ongoing concerns about Dr. Mackie’s leadership.
“People haven’t been happy with him. They don’t feel he actually listens or even takes their stuff seriously,” Holland told Global News.
“There’s always been a fear of reprisal for bringing something forward. Many members will tell us stuff, but they won’t go forward with stuff which would make that rather challenging for the union to fight on their behalf if no one wants to come forward.”
London News Today reported Thursday that Mackie has been the subject of several workplace conduct complaints. Global News has not independently verified these claims.
Global News has also reached out to Mackie for comment but had yet to receive a reply by publication time. London News Today quoted Mackie as saying he believes in the mission of the health unit and conducted himself “in the best possible way to support the organization and its people.”
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Holland could not confirm the veracity of the alleged complaints against Mackie, but said he was “not surprised” and he anticipated that “more people will probably come forward.”
The health unit confirmed that Mackie was on leave on Nov. 15 in a brief, one-sentence statement that named Dr. Alex Summers as the acting medical officer of health. Holland told Global News that Summers “seems to have been working really hard” and that he’s hoping “that this will change.”
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When asked for comment at the time Mackie’s leave was confirmed, the MLHU refused to identify the nature of his absence, to say whether Mackie would be paid while on leave, or to even provide the official start date of the leave.
At Thursday’s COVID-19 media briefing, Summers began his remarks by stating he wanted to acknowledge “some recent news articles regarding the work environment at the Middlesex-London Health Unit.”
In the roughly four minutes he spoke about workplace conditions, he did not mention Mackie.
Summers stressed that “it’s been a challenging time” for public health, which has gone from a Monday to Friday, 9-5 workplace to a 24/7 operation.
“Our response is only possible because of our people, our staff. As a team and as an organization, we have strived to support them through these challenging years, recognizing the massive amount of work and stress that they have been faced with,” Summers said.
Summers said that the health unit has been holding weekly meetings with union partners and has invested in additional mental health and wellness supports for staff.
“The Middlesex-London Health Unit is a workplace that cares for each other and cares for our community. This is a workplace committed to kindness, committed to understanding.”
When reached for comment, board chair and city councillor Maureen Cassidy told Global News that the “MLHU Board of Health is in alignment with the MLHU Leadership team and staff on the issue of workplace culture.”
In his comments Thursday, Summers noted that the board of health “continues to be supportive of all the efforts we do and continues to provide resources and support to our staff.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, Holland says his members have been working extensive overtime, with some members working 12-hour days. He said the union brought its concerns to human resources which raised the issue with the health unit’s leadership team.
“And the response (from the leadership team) was, ‘We’re in a pandemic. We’re not changing. You know, they’re going to have to keep doing it,'” Holland alleged.
“That’s not helpful. If people burn out, people are going to go off of work due to, potentially, health reasons and that’s not helpful to anyone,” said Holland.
In his comments Thursday, Summers said the MLHU has nearly tripled its workforce since the pandemic began and continues to recruit additional staff.
“We’ve also ensured that people have been able to take their breaks, and with the rare exception, staff have been able to utilize their vacation time this year,” he said.
Holland also alleged that he met with Mackie just once in his over four years as Local 101 president and that Mackie told him to deal with the HR leaders going forward.
“Since then, he’s not really talked to me and we don’t have conversations, which is odd because I have conversations with the city manager regularly.”
Global News reached out to the health unit to respond to these allegations but was referred to Summers’ comments at Thursday’s COVID-19 briefing.
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