At this time I was off work on stress-related issues which in my opinion were due to general stress and pain incurred by my transfer to Peterborough, for which I had filed a Grievance in 2001.
While off on sick leave (stress) Mr. Forsyth, the District Manager who I just co-incidentally had filed the Grievance against made the decision to send this second Notice of Intended Discipline. As with one year earlier, he managed to time it just co-incidentally in the hours immediately before I left for a three day winemaking convention. Once again it was received with insufficient time to both make a reasoned reply and still attend the convention. You can imagine the mental wreck this made of me. If, as many of my friends and co-workers suggested, this was done in an attempt to punish and intimidate me, it succeeded. This convention is something I look forward to eagerly each year, and the NOID really made a mess of me for a number of days.
It is almost ridiculously co-incidental that during a hearing on the grievance (which was essentially personal harrassment of myself by District Manager Forsyth) during May the Union was given notice that "In the course of preparing for the mediation, the LCBO has recently discovered that Mr. Paterson is involved in some kind of business or activity relating to wine growing and tasting, that he sits on the Board of Directors of the Central Ontario Grapegrowers Association (COGA) and that he operates an internet site on wine and related issues (www.littlefatwino.com). Such activities suggest a conflict of interest, which is contrary to LCBO policy. At this time, the LCBO is not in a postition to provide any further particulars as these matters have only recently been discovered and will have to be investigated. However, it appears that they may have some bearing on issues to be discussed at mediation on Friday May 24, 2002, thus the LCBO advises the Union of these issues on a without prejudice basis and reservet the right to take any action deemed necessary. Signed by somebody for Legal Council (not the Council personally).
Pheww! does this sound intimidating or what? "ONLY RECENTLY BEEN DISCOVERED" my ass. Every single LCBO District Manager had known everything I was working on, and most had been highly complimentary. Only once I'd filed a grievance was such "Discovery" made. For crying out loud, more than 20 LCBO employees, including Rowland Dunning (at that time a wheel at LCBO head office) had their names, with their permission/knowledge/request, attached to an experimental vineyard in Buckhorn. A member of the Board of Directors (Richard Dolphin) and many District Managers used to ask for my handouts - which were encouraged by them - for Ontario wine related events I kept going. Recently discovered indeed. Mr. Forsyth himself, as acting District Manager in 2000, had complimented me personally on my website (approved in a handout by his office for the 2002 Fiesta Buckhorn, Jul 20 2002!!!, still have the letter from his office!) and on my abilities as shown in helping manage Fiesta Buckhorn. There had even been a recommendation for a particular wine "lifted" from my website by LCBO for use in the Classics Catalogue. The idea of "Recently discovered" just doesn't wash. Recently discovered as a way to punish is closer to the point. This in my opinion was just another way of keeping me in my place. Ethics didn't matter, just results. And I'm now quite happy "in my place"...
I wrote the following reply on very short notice and headed out in any case. At the convention I handed out a few copies of the NOID I had received and my first response. I may or may not have done this had I been given a week to think about it, but under the circumstances my first reaction to such tyranny will be to fight back, make as big a noise as I can. Seems that copies went far and wide. On mature reflection, I am glad I took this action.
Shortly thereafter the LCBO created the in-store position of Ontario Wine Advocate, which position I eagerly allowed myself to be recommended for. This was most abruptly denied, and I could not do anything other than consider this to be further harassment based on the events just recited. Therefore I filed a grievance over this matter with the enclosed attachments. They may have been able to kill me, but no way in hell was I giving in to this kind of intimidation. In no way was any other person in this store trained to fill the position, nor did they want to try if I were there. This was further punishment.
This cloud was left hanging over my head indefinitely, and work got worse and worse. On many days I would have to take up to ten Tums at a time before I could enter the workplace. This was not due to my co-workers, just a feeling of lack of trust of senior management, and general intimidation. But I would have died sooner than quit.
In the December 2002 issue of Toronto Life an article by Trevor Cole appeared in which it was clear to me that Paul Forsyth had been discussing my employment situation, and particularly the NOID mentioned above. In the article Cole quotes District Manager Forsyth as stating "Paul Forsyth now insists that a letter was sent a month later declaring the matter closed. But when the LCBO selected employees in each of its A- and B-ranked stores to become official Ontario wine advocates, Larry Paterson’s name was refused."
Funny how I had never received any such letter, or any word of any kind about the NOID. As far as I'm concerned, senior management knew the stress it would put me under if the matter were just left hanging. This was in my mind deliberate cruel and unusual punishment. They knew exactly what they were doing. I further believe that this kind of treatment at LCBO is simply part of the get-along-or-get=out corporate philosophy that has contributed to horrible lcbo morale (see this report and this report) including the perception of very poor quality management of people. Many employees would agree that toads get promoted, and any independent thought is seriously discouraged. But they wouldn't agree out loud for fear of incurring the kind of treatment I've received!
Later in the year (2002) lung tests showed that my lung disease was progressing. The lung specialist told me to book off time for a serious exploratory operation. Two days before the operation, in a desire to clean up things in case I did not survive surgery (always a fear on my part) I sent a letter to Minister Tim Hudak detailing much that was related. His reply and that of LCBO VP Roy Ecker are also online.
When I found out in early 2003 that I had Pulmonary Fibrosis and that it was considered deadly, I decided to go after some resolution. I'd been through hell, and was in considerable pain after this operation (which continues to this day). I'd simply had this horrible work-related cloud pertaining to my integrity over my head for too long. As they found out there was no reason to question my integrity. I determined at that time to question the integrity of the top of this organization as a whole. Thus the report that starts at my new homepage and continues on and on, and will continue as long as they are doing things I find reprehensible.
On or about January 13, 2003 I phoned Michael Callaghan of Human Resources in Regional Office, Ottawa. I told him that if resolution to this problem wasn't provided stat that I would hold a press conference about the subject. I was asked to please hold my fire for a little bit. In fact within a very short time I received a letter from Regional Director Don Bourre which enclosed what was presented as the letter that District Manager Forsyth had supposedly had couriered to me in June of the previous year. This letter I believe to have been made up after I made the phone call. In no way did I receive any such letter. The letter itself shows that it was delivered by courier. I challenge LCBO to find my signature on any such document.
Further, the letter itself was sent from the proper address of the District Manager. It had been a standing joke in the District the Mr. Forsyth didn't even know where he was stationed, as his letterhead had the address of a previous location on it for quite a considerable time after his office was moved. In fact, I am still in possession of a letter dated July 8, 2002 - dated AFTER the letter that was forwarded by Don Bourre, which had THE WRONG ADDRESS on it. To accept that the letter I was sent was correct, I would also have to assume that Mr. Forsyth corrected his address for the June 27 letter (sent to me in Jan 03 by Mr. Bourre), and then CHANGED IT BACK to the wrong address for a letter he sent to me on a separate issue a few days into July. This to me is strongly suggestive that no such letter was indeed sent in June 2002, but that it was cooked up later in response to
I may be wrong about this, but feel that my grievance settlement, paragraph 8, allows me to make fair comment on the situation, which right I am now exercising.
In my opinion this is what happened:
- Due to my refusal to drop my grievance in the May 2002 hearing, LCBO decided to "discover" my outside interests and use them as a lever to make me behave, or as punishment
i) the article in Toronto Life in December 2002
ii) my letter to Minister Hudak complaining about the situation
iii) my telephone call in January 2003 threatening to go as public as I could with the issue.
- The 2002 NOID was timed and issued to this end
- My handing out of the NOID and response ended up going much further than to the few friends whose advice I sought, including the hands of Mr. Cole
- Mr. Cole, finding me uncommunicative, pursued LCBO staff, finding Mr. Forsyth less solid in his refusal to talk. Mr. Forsyth may well have told him, just to get rid of him, that a letter had been sent (in my opinion the letter was a myth). The article makes it seem that Mr. Forsyth had been discussing it in more depth than this with Mr. Cole. In my opinion Mr. Forsyth has on more than one occasion felt free to talk to others about how he would discipline me see 2001 NOID
- the combination of the article, my complaint to the Minister and my phone call induced LCBO to make a letter appear.
I further believe that this is not an unusual type of action on behalf of the LCBO. They have many employees who detest them. This management culture needs to change, or else LCBO needs to cease to exist.