Dive Summary:
- The city of Vancouver, Canada has promoted Mike Zupan to sanitation manager, causing controversy within the town and staff as it was surmised that Zupan knowingly hired a Hells Angel for employment this spring.
- It was stated by the city that the promotion is the result of "improved morale and employee engagement in a toxic workplace." A report obtained by The Province shows otherwise as the human resources document details 200 worker complaints that cite Zupan's favoritism problem.
- While the city remains adamant that Zupan did not hire the Hells Angel onto the staff, sanitation workers stand by the claim that Zupan was well aware of the Hells Angel's background.
From the article:
A Sept. 12 internal email from Albert Shamess, director of waste management, states: “For the past eight months Mike has been doing an excellent job as acting manager and has successfully implemented and (sic) number of changes in the branch to improve operations, employee engagement and overall morale within the branch.”
The report says that managers are not trusted, and quoted workers who said it is hard to “respect leaders who do nothing,” …staff said they “can’t be truthful for fear of complaints to union (and) harassment.”
An internal email from city manager Penny Ballem stated, "…I am very concerned and dismayed about the unsubstantiated and irresponsible allegations and innuendo ... which is allegedly coming from our staff (and some of our retired staff) regarding Mike Zupan, our acting manager of sanitation.”
