Well, as it turns out the NDP have now joined the ranks of the old parties. The Ottawa Citizen reported last Thursday that the NDP national director and deputy director have written a formal apology to a young staffer after she was – allegedly – on the receiving end of of unwanted attention from a donor at a fundraising event, whom the paper identifies as subjected to Jack Layton’s former communications director.
The Citizen also reported that junior staffers helping to run the were left to fend for themselves after the people in charge left the venue without notice. The paper describes the unnamed individuals as “sloppy drunk”.
The NDP staffers – who are unionised – sought help with the grievance from Sean McKenny, the president of the Ottawa Labour Council. He wrote an e-mail to NDP deputy national director about the incident. His comments - as quoted by the Citizen - are brutal in describing the actions by senior NDP management in dealing with the incident:
“It is disappointing that management has chosen, at this time, to not write a letter to the person in question (in the) complaint. That management seems to be minimizing the seriousness of the complaint is indeed frustrating and more than questionable,” McKenny wrote in a April 24 email to Vallerand.
“I remind you that as a resolution dealing with sexual harassment within the RCMP and other federal government departments was being debated and passed on the floor at the NDP convention an (alleged) actual scene(s) had played out at one of its own events during this time. To suggest your position is appalling is probably an understatement,” McKenny alleged.With management like that, no wonder the Dipper staff have to get a union to help them out.
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