In his final days, former national president Jerry Dias used his power and influence to pressure the whistleblower to withdraw his ethics complaint that Dias improperly accepted $50,000 from a vendor
Former Unifor national president Jerry Dias, who was accused by his own organization of improperly accepting $50,000 from a vendor, became increasingly panicked in his final days before retiring, and exerted pressure on a former assistantMr. Dias used his power and influence within Unifor to get his current assistants to convince the whistleblower, Chris MacDonald, to withdraw his complaint so that an investigation into Mr. Dias’s conduct would not proceed.
Debate erupts within Unifor over executive expenses as union looks to replace former president Jerry Dias And Mr. MacDonald claimed he had personally received half the money from Mr. Dias, as a cash reward for successfully getting Unifor-affiliated employers to purchase those tests in bulk. The third-party investigation, commissioned by Unifor and conducted by veteran employment lawyer and workplace investigator Catherine Milne, relies on witness statements and evidence in the form of texts, e-mails and call logs provided by Mr. Doherty, Mr. MacDonald and Unifor’s Ontario regional director, Naureen Rizvi.
In a lengthy e-mail response to The Globe’s questions about the report, Mr. Curry cast the investigation as “flawed,” because Mr. Dias “did not have the ability” to participate in it. Mr. Doherty told investigators that Mr. Dias had received a letter on Jan. 29 from Ms. Payne informing him about the investigation, and that Mr. Dias was “in panic mode.” He wanted Mr. Doherty to intervene with Mr. MacDonald.
At 4:07 a.m., Mr. Dias wrote: “Sorry to text you so early. Please call me when you wake up. It’s about today’s meeting. It’s about the union that we both love. It’s not about us.”And then, at 6:30 a.m.: “Today is an important day for our union, we need to talk. We have known each other a long time and you are literally my family, probably the person I have been closest to in the union. We can’t let this destroy the union. I need to tell you what I am doing.
“I don’t know what’s going on but Dias wants me to fix it,” Mr. Doherty said, according to Ms. Rizvi’s statement.After being ignored by Mr. MacDonald for days, the report says, Mr. Dias became angry. In an e-mail, Mr. MacDonald told The Globe his statements to investigators about his contact with Mr. Doherty are being “weaponized” for political reasons.
The report says the relationship between Unifor and the COVID-19 test company began in the middle of December 2021, at the peak of yet another wave of coronavirus infections, which led to a prolonged early-winter shutdown in much of Ontario. The report recounts Mr. MacDonald’s recollection of what happened next: “I brought this for you,” Mr. Dias said, pointing at the grocery bag. “There is $50,000 in that bag from A.”
Four days later, on Jan. 24, Mr. MacDonald reported the transaction to the union. The money was moved to In addition to Mr. Doherty and Ms. Payne, Dave Cassidy, the president of Unifor local 444 in Windsor and a key critic of Unifor’s political culture, is also in contention for the top job.
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