OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 07/22/11 -- The President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), Gary Corbett, today issued the following statement on the mistreatment of 1200 Canadian workers from the Ontario and Quebec regions by American based IQT Solutions.
"This sad situation draws attention to the inherent 'dog-eat-dog' character and instability of many operators in the private sector. In the case of a company like IQT Solutions which ran call-centres, the workers take the brunt of the pain."
The abrupt lay-off of 1200 employees by IQT Solutions on July 19, 2011 has sparked the ire of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. "This is a company that lacks any ethical standard or even the most basic human decency. Thankfully, those are things the city of Nashville, Tennessee has in spades" argues an impassioned Gary Corbett.
The Mortmans had planned to move their operations in Oshawa, Laval and Trois-Rivieres to Nashville where they were offered $1.6 million in incentives by the city. But, Nashville yanked the deal, citing the lay-off and mistreatment of Canadian workers as the reason.
The owners of IQT Solutions, David and Alex Mortman, have gone into hiding, refusing to speak with labour ministry officials leaving workers in an excruciating limbo, as the company has: neither, declared bankruptcy preventing workers from applying to the Wage Earners Protection Program (WEPP), nor has it issued records of employment with which workers could start to collect employment insurance.
"PIPSC calls on Minister Raitt and her provincial counterparts to quickly intervene and instruct the Mortmans to declare bankruptcy, pay unpaid wages and supply workers with Record of Employment documentation", stated Gary Corbett. "Further, Canadian, Ontario and Quebec Ministers of Labour must take the necessary steps to ensure that the Mortmans are prosecuted for breaking Canadian labour law - the 1200 former IQT workers deserve nothing less", concludes Corbett.
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada is a national union representing some 60,000 professionals and scientists across Canada's public sector.
Contacts:
Chantal Lecours
(613) 228-6310 extension 2229
(613) 864-4368 (cell)