All 31 members of Sackville Fire & Rescue will be asked to participate in a workplace investigation in the coming weeks as the Municipality of Tantramar attempts to address issues firefighters say have been raised, but largely ignored, within the department.
The municipality has hired VanBuskirk Law of Saint John as an external investigator to conduct the workplace review, a move that was sparked by 12 local firefighters recently turning in their pagers in an effort to bring attention to the seriousness of their concerns relating to management, workplace safety and harassment.
The scope of the investigation will include interviewing the firefighters to look into: any alleged violations of the Workplace Harassment & Violence Policy, any allegations of favoritism, any allegations related to a failure of leadership, any alleged inappropriate behaviour that may or may not amount to harassment, and an overall conclusion of the workplace culture.
No timeline has been announced for the investigation, but the municipality has stated it will provide updates as information becomes available.
