Members of CUPE 882, which represents city inside workers, are pictured on strike in 2023. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

2023 CUPE strike

Investigation shows no privacy breach at P.A. city hall

Mar 5, 2024 | 7:59 AM

With no discussion, Prince Albert’s city council accepted as information a report from the provincial privacy commissioner that found no breach of privacy when a poster with a union member’s name and contact information was posted publicly during the strike.

A copy of the commissioner’s report was attached to the agenda for Monday’s regular meeting and showed that the unnamed complainant was a CUPE member who objected to having their personal cell phone and office phone number posted on city facilities.

“On October 24, 2023, CUPE’s legal counsel sent a letter to the City on behalf of the Complainant which demanded that the City remove and dispose of the notices displaying the Complainant’s personal cell phone number and contact information by 3:00 p.m. on October 25, 2023. CUPE’s legal counsel advised that if this was not done, CUPE would take further legal steps regarding the issue,” the report reads.

In response, the city said the phone number provided was a business number and directed residents on how to channel inquiries to people in authority over the conduct of members of CUPE who were striking and picketing outside city facilities.

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On several occasions, tensions between striking staff and management or council escalated to the point where they almost became physical.

A video of Mayor Greg Dionne was shown of his pickup attempting to leave city hall and being blocked by picketers and then slightly bumping two women.

On another occasion, angry parents reached out to paNOW and city hall after school buses were prevented from pulling into the EA Rawlinson Centre for a play and some students with physical handicaps were forced to ride wheelchairs across sidewalks during a freezing rainfall.

In its explanation to the privacy commissioner, the city said the contact information in question had been given to them by CUPE and was presented in the public domain as a business contact.

The union still wanted the personal cell phone of the complainant removed from the City’s website and demanded that it be taken down by November 6 and a public apology issued.

A privacy complaint was filed, and the city took down the posters ‘for other reasons’.

Despite the cell phone being a personal one, the commissioner said it did not qualify as such because it was published on the complainant’s business card.

“To qualify as personal information, the information must be about the individual in a personal capacity. As a general rule, information associated with an individual in a professional, official, or business capacity will not be considered to be “about” the individual,” ruled the commissioner.

That ruling is consistent with other complaints.

The commissioner concluded that the city did not breach any privacy laws and recommended they take no further action in the matter.

The fallout from the strike is not yet over as two councillors having a pending legal decision over allegations of conflict of interest.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com