Documents show that during the MUHC CSN executive and union council election, the CSN consultant assigned to the local union provided information directly to a candidate.
The FSSS federation of the CSN assigns consultants to the affiliated unions, who are independent, and may reject propositions from the central office.
The consultant informed the candidate that an executive was illegally campaigning. The candidate deposited a complaint with the president of election.
Prior to the election a president and secretary were nominated by the union members at the General assembly. The regulations state that all complaints are to be addressed to them and not directly to the candidates.
The investigation performed by the president and secretary of the elections revealed no wrongdoing. Their decision was that the executive was campaigning legally and on their own time.
“The complaint was against me, I was shocked when I read the text, which stated the information was provided by the consultant directly to a candidate, which is a violation of election regulations. Ironically, I was the one who followed the rules, and not the CSN consultant. Fortunately, it had no impact on the vote – the candidate lost.” Former MUHCEU interim president Manuel Fernandes.
” Ironically I was the one who followed the rules, not the CSN consultant. ” Fernandes
Fernandes went on to say that he had previously made it clear to the head office,… “that we (union members) are the customers, we pay over $2 million dollars yearly for a service from the CSN and we make own independent decisions.”
The President of the MUHC CSN union Robert Lagueux, did not reply to our request for a comment.