Rob Ford's calls to fire employee in rec-centre photo 'way too hasty'

Mayor Rob Ford's calls for community centre staff to be fired over a photo released yesterday that shows a city worker with his head down on his desk are far too premature and don't respect the due process for handling complaints against civic employees, several councillors and a union rep said Thursday.

"This is way too hasty on the mayor's part. Usually what happens if someone sees, a councillor sees an irregularity, something perhaps wrong with the staff in the way they're conducting themselves, is you talk to their supervisor, ask them to do an investigation and then ask them to act appropriately," Coun. Joe Mihevc said on Thursday.

Mayor Rob Ford wants rec staff fired over alleged sleeping on job

The day before, Ward 7 Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti released a photo that he alleges shows a city employee sleeping at their desk in the weight room of the Carmine Stefano Community Centre, the same building where he has in his constituency office.

The picture, taken from just outside the doorway of an office, shows a person in a dark, long-sleeved shirt slumped at a desk.

The photo raised a furor when it was shown to Ford, who stated that he didn't care whether the worker was on their break or sick and that both the worker and his manager should be fired if it turns out the employee was asleep on the job.

Mihevc and other councillors CBC News spoke to on Thursday, as well as the union that represents Toronto's community centre workers, said Ford's reaction was too abrupt.

Tim Maguire, president of CUPE Local 79, said the union is assisting with the city's investigation into the matter, but noted that the worker has a right to due process.

“Our assumption is that this person is on a morning break,” Maguire told host Matt Galloway on CBC Radio's Metro Morning. “It’s a right, not an excuse. But they have a right to rest on that break. Management has rights and responsibilities to investigate. It’s too easy to go to a microphone and say ‘fire someone.’ "

Maguire said the story amounts to a “media stunt” to distract from the impact of millions of dollars in budget cuts to the city's community centres.

In response to Mammoliti's statement on Wednesday that he has heard complaints for months from his constituents about the worker, Maguire said he knows who the worker is and is not aware of any previous workplace problems with him.

“There is a certain irony here,” Maguire said. “Other employees of the city, including the mayor, have been accused of things and they’ve been protected by due process. Let’s let that due process work itself out to determine if there is something inappropriate being done here.”

Reporters pointed out to the mayor on Thursday that he himself has appeared to nap at city deliberations. Ford was shown a picture of himself slouched back in a chair at a city committee meeting in 2011, his eyes closed and his arms folded across his chest.

He dismissed the picture, calling it a "ridiculous" suggestion.

"I'm not sleeping," Ford said in response to a media question. "It’s so far-fetched, it’s not funny. I don’t know, buddy, it’s not how I sleep."

After the story about the picture broke on Wednesday, Ford said he’s been working on contracting out some of the city’s parks and recreation services, but Maguire said the union hasn't heard anything to that effect.

“We’re not aware of any discussions to contract out recreation facilities,” he said. “Most of the people that work in these facilities are minimum wage or near minimum wage workers. What are you going to contract it out to?”