We often talk about how far we’ve come since the #metoo movement. But we forget the highway in the opposite direction where attackers spin at high speed, laughing, as if nothing had happened, leaving injured victims by the side of the road.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Direction: power. Always higher, always further on the highway of impunity.
From time to time, thanks to nice guys like Rénald Grondin, president of the FTQ-Construction who ended up resigning Thursday following the revelations of The Presswe are entitled to a little reminder.
Here is a boss who, under the pretext of wanting to “be close” to his secretary, harassed and sexually assaulted her for two years, from 2008 to 2010, when he was the general manager of the Association of Inter-Provincial Maneuvers, member of the FTQ-Construction.
The victim, a single mother, quit her job, fell into depression and still lives with the aftermath of the assaults she suffered. The attacker? He got off with a promotion and only resigned when my colleague Émilie Bilodeau brought it to light.
The case was however well documented. A 2012 decision from the Professional Injuries Commission confirms, with supporting medical documents, that we are not talking about simple gossip.
Judge Guylaine Moffet, responsible for determining whether we were faced with a “work accident”, had to point out the obvious: “Gestures of aggression are not part of the normal working environment of an executive secretary. »
Oh no! Being attacked by your boss is not in the job description of a secretary. Welcome to XXIand century… A century where a boss who wants to “be close to his secretary” deserves neither to be a boss nor to obtain a promotion.
It seems that Rénald Grondin was unaware of it and that the FTQ-Construction, though guardian of the fair and equitable treatment of its members, was also unaware of it. What ? Do women have rights? What is going on ? We are not in 1950 anymore? Where is the world going if you can’t assault your secretary like in the good old days?
How is it that no one at the FTQ-Construction cared about the skeletons in Rénald Grondin’s closet before the skeleton was exposed on the front page of The Press ?
The FTQ-Construction refused my request for an interview, contenting itself with publishing a press release that does not answer the question.
During the election of a leader, background checks are carried out on the candidates, the statement reads. “And no compromising decision concerning Rénald Grondin had come out. »
It is possible and above all very convenient, if one is content with a superficial search, that nothing compromising comes out. Especially if the compromising thing that we could find is indifferent to us.
Not knowing is one thing. Not trying to find out is another.
Rénald Grondin’s employer could not have been unaware of this affair, because he was called upon to give his version of the facts to the Commission des lésions professionnelles and chose not to do so.
This is the kind of file which, in a boy club little sensitive to these questions, can quickly pass in the sector 13, underlines Rachel Gagnon, professor with the department of legal sciences of the UQAM.
“As long as no one cares and it bothers no one, let no one raise an eyebrow and say, ‘My God! It could be that he assaulted someone! We should dig that a little”, it is sure that it has every chance of slipping through the cracks. »
An employer may very well conduct its own investigation in such a case, even if it does not receive a complaint. In 2012, the Labor Standards Act was already in effect. Under this law, an employer has an obligation to provide a healthy and harassment-free environment. But he still has to have the will to do so, beyond the statement of a good policy or beautiful press releases.
“For the FTQ-Construction, sexual and psychological harassment is zero tolerance. We know that we operate in a male-dominated industry with a difficult climate for female workers and we must be an example for all, “said the statement released Thursday, promising to” toughen “investigations for this. does not happen again.
If we know it, why did we pretend we didn’t know it?
This case shows that the discourse that we go too far in terms of harassment and that it destroys careers is completely overrated, observes Professor Rachel Gagnon. “If we have an employer who gives little importance to this type of problem, it will pass under his nose and he will never see anything. »
This story is disturbingly reminiscent of the judgment of the Supreme Court Béliveau St-Jacques which caused a stir in 1996, recalls Rachel Gagnon. The case also concerned the union environment – a CSN employee who was the victim of harassment by a superior. Since this decision, injuries caused by harassment in the workplace have come under the Labor Standards Act and can be treated as accidents at work.
If no workplace is immune to harassment, we sometimes note in the union environment a badly shod cobbler syndrome, observes the professor. “I would even allow myself to think that these environments start from further away, sometimes. Because as they are steeped in this culture of defending the worker, they do not see their blind spots. »
This is the impression I had when I saw the Twitter feed of the FTQ-Construction on Thursday, the day of commemoration of the injured and dead from work accidents and the day of the publication of the revelations about Rénald Grondin.
The union tweeted paying tribute to the workers who lost their lives or were injured in 2021. However, it would have been a good occasion to recall that its own president seriously injured an employee in an “accident of work” on the highway of impunity.