Local councillor Josh Matlow said he was in disbelief when he recently received a letter from a lawyer writing on behalf of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79, regarding a tweet he made.
The offending words were posted online during a City of Toronto: Community Development and Recreation Committee meeting where CUPE Local 79 president Ann Dembinski addressed the councillors in opposition to proposed service cuts.
According to Matlow’s account, he asked her what reasonable concessions — without getting into specifics — her union might be willing to entertain to help address the budget gap.
The lawyer’s letter and the local councillor agree that Dembinski then responded that she was not going to negotiate publicly.
Matlow then tweeted: “CUPE lobbies councillors to protect services but don’t seem open to making reasonable concessions to help w/a solution. Not good enough.”
Within the hour, the local councillor said he received a letter from a lawyer representing CUPE Local 79 and Dembinski.
“Your description of Ms. Dembinski’s response to your question is unfair, inaccurate and misleading.… It is arguably defamatory and libellous,” said the letter from J. James Nyman.
If a retraction and apology were not immediately forthcoming, the letter stated, further steps would be pursued.
“To receive a letter from their lawyers, threatening me with potential action if I didn’t publicly apologize, I thought was outrageous,” Matlow said. “Our elected representatives should feel comfortable asking tough but honest questions.”
Matlow said he didn’t intend to apologize for voicing his opinion.
A media spokesperson for CUPE Local 79 said Dembinski is not commenting on the letter and could not comment on whether further action would be taken.